Frozen in Time
by overcheatedXdreamer
Summary: The story of the first memeber of the Ootp. First, second and third chapters take place long before the books. Compatible with timeline and interviews given by JKR. I really like this story idea but i need some concrit so pease R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my character, Ana. I really have always loved the name Arianna, but considering that is also the name of Dumbledore's little sister, I decided that it would only make people think "Sue!!!" and turn readers off. Therefore, her name is Ana. The rest is the brilliant work of JK Rowling whom I deeply admire.

Summary: This is the series starting from Ootp told from the POV of a new Order member, or, as you will see, the first Order member. I do not intend this to be a romance, although I can't promise anything, and she will not steal all of the glory and stuff from Harry and his friends. Okay screw the summary. Just read it cause it's good.

Hello. I am Ana Tchaikovsky. Yes, like the famous Muggle musician. Absolutely no relation. Why am I important to the story of young Harry Potter and his friends? I am not. I am not important in anybody's story, but the Order seems to think otherwise. They seem to think that it would be a splendid idea to have me join their ranks, as the person who knew Tom Riddle better than anyone else. I know what you are thinking, and I will tell you now: this is not a romance. I will never claim that I know the inner workings of the Dark Lord's mind. I will never claim that I was close to him, although if you had asked me that while I was still young and stupid, I would have told you otherwise. Perhaps you should know the whole story? I will not give you a book or spend long hours telling you about my many escapades with the younger Tom Riddle. I will merely give you enough to satisfy your curiosity, because _this _is important. Not me, but what I am going to tell you.

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"_Tom, are you sure that this will work?" Ana asked, following Tom Riddle up the stairs to the fourth floor. She looked worriedly over her shoulder down the dark staircase, almost sinking into one of the trick steps. She stumbled to avoid the step and heard one of the portraits snigger. "Shut it," she muttered. _

"_Hurry. I don't want to be caught," Tom hissed, glaring at her. She winced at his sharp tone, but struggled to move faster. When they finally reached the top, he turned around, surveying the area with his dark eyes. Ana patiently waited for him to speak, and after a few moments he let his breath out and smiled at her. "I'm sorry I was so short with you. But this is very important, and it's as if Dumbledore has been following me even closer than usual these past few weeks. The idiot.," Tom growled. Ana could see that look coming back into his face, and she waited, terrified that once again she would get the brunt of his horrible temper. But he quickly glanced at her and resumed his calm, innocent façade. Ana breathed a sigh of relief._

_Tom quickly took her hand and searched her face, meeting her light blue eyes with his own black. "You aren't having second thoughts, are you?" Ana grimaced and glanced away for only a second, but a shadow crossed Tom's face, as if he knew what she was thinking at that second. _

"_Well," she began slowly, "It's just that, we could get in a lot of trouble for this. I mean, what exactly does a horcrux do?" Tom made an impatient noise and grinned at her. _

"_I've told you. We get to live forever if this works! And if it doesn't, well then, no harm, no foul!" Ana still looked doubtful, so Tom kissed her on the cheek and grinned at her. "Don't you love me, Ana? Didn't you say you would always be there for me? Or was that a lie?" As Tom asked the last question, his eyes filled with tears and he looked down. Ana gasped and began to cry._

"_No, please! I do love you! I'm sorry. I'm just scared, that's all. But of course I will help you." Tom smiled and brushed aside her thick black hair, then turned to the mirror behind him. Tapping it with his wand, he whispered, "_Specialis revelio_." Before their eyes, the mirror disappeared to reveal the familiar passageway that would take them to the room they used to practice all of their spells and potions. The mirror reappeared behind them when they had stepped into the passageway, and both teens pulled out their wands to light their way. When they got to the room, Tom closed the door, and Ana flopped down on a ragged old chair. In the middle of the room was a simmering cauldron, and along the walls on the floor were books of spells. It was dark and dreary and the simmering cauldron did not give off much heat, so Tom lit the small fireplace in the corner of the room. He then went over and checked whatever was brewing I the cauldron. Ana watched him do all of this, a small ball of warmth spreading throughout her body as she watched him work. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. That she was allowed to hang out with Tom Riddle! He was handsome, easily the most brilliant student in the entire school, even more so than some of the teachers, charming, popular, head boy, quidditch player. It amazed Ana sometimes that he would put up with a fourth year Hufflepuff nobody. _

"_What are you staring at?" Ana jerked her head and saw Tom frowning at her. "Nothing," she replied. _

"_Do you have it?" Ana silently handed him the bracelet he had gotten her for Christmas last year. He quickly snatched it from her hands and looked around nervously, then pulled out his wand. "Stand up." Ana obeyed and he took her hand, as if he were going to give her a handshake, but instead pointed his wand at it. Ana tried to pull away, but he held tight, and muttered a few words under his breath. A faint glow formed around their hands and Ana knew that neither of them could pull away now._

"_Promise me that you will not change your mind. Promise me that you will help me make my horcrux." _

"_Tom! What is going on?" Ana whimpered, but Tom glared at her._

"_Promise me!" he barked._

"_I promise! Tom I swear I will help you with the horcrux!" she cried. Tom stared into her eyes, and after deciding she was telling the truth, muttered some more words and let go of her hand, though the faint glow was still there. Ana sniffled and turned away from Tom, who came up behind her and put his arms around her waist._

"_I won't hurt you," he whispered into her ear. He let her go and handed her a small flask of the potion. With one last sob, she choked down the vile potion. It was absolutely horrid, but Tom smiled gratefully at her. "Here. Take the bracelet and point your wand at it, and do exactly as I say."_

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_It was pain as Ana had never felt it before. She couldn't see. Couldn't hear. Why wouldn't Tom help her? This was agony beyond all description. Ana wanted death, and yet she knew that he would not have it. Tom loved her. He said so. He had promised he would never hurt her. But then why this pain? What was happening? Was that her screaming? It sounded like the cries of a dying animal. "_Perhaps I am dying_," thought Ana. She wished with all of her heart that it was true. Ana could feel her body being ripped apart , her limbs being jerked in every way. She wanted it to stop, and no sooner had she thought it, than she could feel it happening. The pain was going away, and Ana sank into the darkness._

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_Dumbledore was there. He was trying wake her. But the darkness felt so nice and safe. Tom was not here, at least, not the Tom that did that horrible thing to her. Her muddled mind struggled to make sense of Professor Dumbledore's voice. _

"_Please Ana. Wake up. What did he do?" And she could see him. Professor Dumbledore, gripping her hand, begging her to tell him the secret of what she and Tom had done. But she couldn't answer. She was too ashamed. She felt somewhat empty. But why? Come to think of it, what had she and Tom done? She couldn't remember. But it had been awful. So much screaming, so much pain. And those dark eyes with the maniacal red gleam._

_Tom had tricked her, and as she looked into the kind, concerned face of Albus Dumbledore, she made a promise that she would not let him get away with it._

"_I don't know," she whispered. "I can't remember." Professor Dumbledore smiled and pushed a lock of hair out of her face. She closed her mind and remembered her father stroking her hair when she was upset. That was so long ago. It was comforting to have that feeling again._

"_I will help you," Dumbledore promised._

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_Tom's eyes. The bracelet. And such agony. But Tom's eyes were the most prominent. Through all of the pain, his strangely blood colored eyes. But that wasn't right. Because Tom's eyes weren't red……_

"_Stop!" Ana woke to find herself on the floor of Dumbledore's office. Her breath was coming out fast and ragged as the wizard stood on the far side of the room, wand pointed at her. She could still feel it, the feeling of a thousand knives slicing at her insides._

"_Please, Ana. We were very close this time." Ana snorted and got up from the floor. She flicked her head back and marched up to Dumbledore, standing nose to, well, chest, with him._

"_Don't lie to me. We were not getting close, and after four years of having my mind constantly attacked by you, we still aren't getting any closer to finding out what he did to me that night. I barely got any OWLs and I flunked all of my NEWTs, and still I remain here at Hogwarts hoping that maybe it won't all have been in vain! We practice this Occlumency every week, praying that one day I will have a breakthrough, but it isn't happening and I'm tired of waiting! Tired of being used by you, so you can destroy him!," she shouted, poking the man in the chest with her forefinger. He stood stunned by her sudden outburst, the gleam in his eyes had vanished completely. Ana continued. _

"_But I am through with all of it! I'm tired and angry and frustrated, and so stressed that I can't even do a simple Summoning Spell anymore! I'm done!" Dumbledore let out a great sigh and closed his eyes. Ana took a step back from him and waited for him to speak. It was the first time she had ever used that tone with him, ever said what she was feeling out loud. And even as she had spoken it she knew it was true. She was tired and broken, and was drained of magic, if that was even possible. At last Dumbledore looked at her. It was like he had aged ten years in only a few minutes._

"_What would you have me do?" Ana took a deep breath and said told him what exactly she wanted. "You know he will find you if you stay here? He is biding his time, gathering strength. I fear it will not be long before he starts to gather his power, and you know too much. If needed, he will find you, and he will kill you." Ana gave frustrated sob and made a pleading gesture._

"_Please, professor! I know, but I can't do this anymore." Dumbledore stared at her for a few moments and Ana held her breath in anticipation. Finally, he slumped down and gave her a resigned, pitiful look. He knew she would not change her mind._

"_All right. You will go to America. Live as a Muggle, and keep your wand only for dire emergencies. You will get a new birth certificate and information. I will take care of the rest. I warn you: you will not live a free and comfortable life. My advice would be to change location constantly, and without a particular location in mind. I assure you, when the time comes, he will do all he can to hunt you down. Do not get caught." Dumbledore told her all this in a lowered voice, so quietly Ana had to lean forward to hear him. For the rest of the afternoon Ana and Dumbledore whispered about how they would get Ana out of England and what would happen when she got to America, and as Ana walked back to her room, a spare in the dungeons, it was decided that she would leave at the end of the week._

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_A small hooded figure climbed into the carriage outside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The figure glanced back and raise her hand in farewell at the school, and the carriage set off down the road. As it drove out of sight, down the road past Hogsmead, a tall, bearded man wearing scarlet robes and half moon spectacles also raised his hand ion response. He watched her leave from the open window of his classroom, and then wordlessly extinguished all of the candles with his wand. He climbed a small staircase, leading to his personal chambers, and, before climbing into bed, whispered, "Good luck, Ana Tchaikovsky."_


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Same thing. I only own Ana. The Harry Potter series is the work of JK Rowling

So interestingly enough, I've realized that when you update something at 3:00 in the am, you end up being super tired when you wake up and you get absolutely no reviews. Lol. Anyways, new chapter. Hopefully this one will get me some reviews.

I groaned when I closed the door to my motel room. A small, harassed looking owl was perched on my comforter with a scroll of parchment. I sighed and wrinkled my nose when I realized the owl must have been here for awhile, because the piece of parchment wasn't the only thing that was lying on my comforter.

"Ugh! Don't think you're getting a tip or anything from me!" I told the owl. It hooted indignantly and bit my hand when I reached for the parchment, and I resisted the urge to ram the animal's head through my dressing table. The scroll was heavy, and out of it slid a small pouch with a note that said, "Give this to Caligula." I handed the small pouch to the owl, who merely looked at it and continued to harass me for a tip. I ignored it and tossed the letter in the bin, then on a sheet of lined paper wrote:

_Professor,_

_I refuse to tip the animal. My bed now smells like owl poo thanks to that bloody bird._

_Ana_

_P.S. You owe me a new comforter._

_P.P.S. Do not try to contact me again._

I folded it in half and gave it to Caligula, who nearly bit my hand off in the process of taking the letter. I glared at it. "Quite an appropriate name, you disgusting animal." The owl returned the look and flew out the window with the pouch and letter clutched in it's beak. I threw the covers off of the bed and silently hoped the bird would have a sudden heart attack right over the Atlantic. I went to the dingy laundry room down the hallway and inserted money into the machine, then threw the comforter into the wash. I headed back to my room and decided to begin practicing again.

The past few years I had been practicing my magic again, and without Dumbledore using Ligilimency on my every other week, my powers were coming back stronger than ever. I had brought all of my old Hogwarts stuff with me when I left England, and was now currently residing a small town in Montana. True to my word, I moved every few months, and didn't bother to get apartments, preferring to stay in cheap motels or wherever would take me in. I made my money doing odd jobs, but would get a real one every once in a while, thus giving me the money I needed for bus and train fares.

I turned on my television to the comedy channel and became so engrossed in a famous Muggle comedian's act that after an hour had passed I barely heard the knock on my door. I swore under my breath, realizing that I hadn't practiced at all, and was still wearing the uniform of the diner I worked at. I stood up to answer the door, and started to open it, then shut the door in the face of whoever it was at the door to double back and put my wand away. Prepared with an apology, I opened the door to let whoever it was in, when I saw that it was none other than Albus Dumbledore.

"Sir. Not to seem rude, but I don't believe you got the owl I sent back." Dumbledore pretended not to notice my hostile tone and smiled pleasantly at me. It was the same Dumbledore that I remembered, with only a few differences. He was wearing a bright green cloak over sky blue robes the same color as his twinkling blue eyes. He was still tall as ever, but his beard and hair were longer, and more white than the brownish gray it had been before. He wore his half moon spectacles through which he surveyed the room. I shut the door as he took in the chipped paint on the grimy gray walls, the worn queen sized mattress which looked even more depressing than usual without the comforter, the abundance of TV dinners, and the small cable television set.

"Considering you have not responded to the last four letters I sent you and have done a very good job at throwing me off of your trail, I decided that it would be best if I visited you myself," he said lightly. His beard twitched as he struggled not to laugh at the look on my face.

"But how- Wait! My wand! My magic! You used your ministry connections to track any magical activity associated with my wand!" Dumbledore attempted to look sheepish but failed miserably and spread his hands pleadingly, as he had done when I told him I wanted to leave Hogwarts.

"I am afraid that I need your assistance." I sighed and indicated that he sit in a chair near the door, but he just pulled out his wand and conjured two purple chintz armchairs for us. I took one chair and he took he other.

"Well? What do you need?" Dumbledore chuckled and tucked his wand back inside his robes. I reached behind me and pulled my wand out from under my mattress, and conjured up a warm red set of robes which I immediately put on. It was the middle of January, and the motel was not the warmest place to stay.

"Yes, I suppose we should get right to the point. You have heard of a Lord Voldemort?" I flinched slightly but did not look away from him.

"Yes," I said slowly, cautiously. Dumbledore was watching my reaction very carefully and waited for me to continue. "According to rumors, he is based in Britain, but he has many followers here too. I've been sticking mostly to small towns and country villages, as most Death Eater activity here is centered around the bigger cities." I didn't continue, opting to let Dumbledore say what he wanted to say.

"I think perhaps it would be best if we continued this somewhere safer, where we would have less of a chance at being overheard. I stared at him suspiciously but followed him out my sliding glass door and a little down the road. We stopped suddenly and I looked around. There were no street lights and nobody out that I could see. Dumbledore took my arm and leaned down to whisper in my ear. "We will have to Apparate to a place with a floo connection." I nodded and held onto his arm.

There was a crack and I opened my eyes to see that we were outside of a rundown house. There were few neighbors, and the surrounding houses looked dark. On the steps of the house was a bum wrapped in filthy clothes, who merely glanced up and nodded when he saw Dumbledore and I approaching. I tugged on Dumbledore's arm as we made our way up the rickety steps, and I had an image of me falling through the rotting wood. I quickly bounded up the steps before I asked him my question.

"Sir, what is this place?" He opened the door and gestured for me to follow him. The inside of the house was just as miserable looking as the outside. The furniture was damp and old and the entire house smelled of mold. It was dark, except for a lit fireplace in the corner.

"It is an open Floo station for traveling witches and wizards who need to quickly contact someone in the wizarding world. In this case, we must get back to Hogwarts." He pulled a little pouch from his robes and tossed the sparkling Floo powder. I cringed, as it had been years since I had traveled via Floo Network, and stepped into the fireplace. "Hogwarts Headmaster's office!" I yelled, unsure of if I was doing it right. I felt the familiar but nevertheless nauseous jerk in the pit of my stomach, and the dingy house and Dumbledore spun out of the sight. I closed my eyes to protect them from the smoke and ash and fireplaces spinning in front of me. Just before I felt I was going to be sick, I was tossed face first into what I guessed was the Headmaster's office.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the desk with the portrait of Dippet behind it, and, I noticed with a laugh, a small plaque on said desk reading "Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster". It of course looked quite different, with many of Dumbledore's personal effect moved into the large room, the most prominent being a large scarlet bird in the corner. It looked like a giant red peacock and let out a small cry when Dumbledore appeared next to me seconds later.

"I had no idea you were Headmaster now, sir, though it shouldn't surprise me. You were the obvious candidate even while I was here. And I must say I rather like the way you've decorated in here, professor." Dumbledore smiled and indicated for me to sit down. He took the chair on the other side of the desk. I could remember being in here before, the few times that Tom hadn't been around to bail me out of trouble, or the even rarer times when both he and I had been caught causing trouble.

"I have not been your professor for nearly 30 years, Ana. I think you have deserved the honor of being able to call me Albus." He smiled and his blue eyes twinkled with mirth, and I couldn't help grinning back. Dumbledore had always been my favorite professor at school. Actually, he had been everybody's favorite, except for Tom's. Suddenly, the twinkle in his eye was gone, and he leaned forward, pushing towards me the Daily Prophet. I shivered when I read the title. Another massacre, another picture of the hideous Lord Voldemort. I stared into those cold red eyes, and he laughed and waved his wand at me threateningly, and I wondered where I had seen those eyes before….

"Does he look familiar?" Dumbledore asked quietly. I looked up to see him watching me sadly. I put down the paper, confused.

"Of course he does. Every wizarding paper in the world has either him or his Death Eaters on the front cover of the papers for years now. It's to be expected." Dumbledore continued to act as if I had not snapped at him so rudely and walked over to a tall curio cabinet. He stood there for a moment, and quite suddenly put his wand to his right temple. I watched him warily. I had seen movies in which the depressed Muggles would put strange objects called guns to their heads and blow their brains all to tiny bits. But Dumbledore took his wand away from his head, a long silvery strand of…something…attached to it. He put the silvery substance into a large golden bowl inside the cabinet. There was a faint glow coming from the bowl, and I got up to see what it was. Curiously, I peeked out from behind Dumbledore and saw a silvery, swirling mist in the bowl. I reached out to touch it before remembering that sticking your hand into an unknown substance is not a good idea. Dumbledore and I stood in silence except for the occasional ruffling of the phoenix's feathers. He turned to face me.

"I want to show you something," Dumbledore said quietly. I did not take my eyes off the basin as he prodded it with the tip of his wand. As the image swam to the surface, I clasped my hands over my mouth and let out a cry of horror. It was Tom Riddle, but not as I had known him. He took another step forward and stared at the blood colored eyes. He was much, much paler, and his curling black hair was gone to reveal his waxy, white, and slightly disfigured head. The features of his face looked odd and distorted, and his fine Roman nose was now squashed into his face, making him look rather like a pig. I remembered him as he had been when we were in school. Lush dark curls, deep brown eyes, popular, grinning, and always surrounded by friends. Where was that boy now?

"_Well, then, what better place to start my fresh researched than here, at Hogwarts? Will you let me return? Will you let me share my knowledge with your students? I place myself and my talents at your disposal. I am yours to command._"

The voice had the distinct sound of Tom's, but this man's voice was very high and cold. It couldn't be Tom. But as I sadly looked at those scarlet, bloodshot eyes, and then back at the paper on Dumbledore's, I knew it was true. The boy I had wrongly considered to be my friend all of those years was Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore sighed and patted my hand gently, but I pulled away and returned to my seat. The room was spinning and I was finding it hard to remain standing up. After waiting until I had caught my breath, Dumbledore folded his hands on the table and began to speak.

"That was almost twenty years ago. He was applying for Defense against the Dark Arts. I, of course, turned him down, and he became quite enraged. I am afraid I have not been able to hold onto a Defense professor since then. Afterwards there was no whisper of Tom anywhere. Everyone assumed that he had died or gotten into trouble of some kind, or that he had just decided to leave and not come back, but I knew better. Ten years later, he came back, and steadily rose to power. And now he is at the height of his reign, and there is seemingly nothing anybody can do." I sighed deeply and twiddled my thumbs in my lap, refusing to look at Dumbledore.

"And of course you have a plan?"

"Merely an idea. A group dedicated to bringing Tom down." I glared at him sharply.

"You can't bring him down. You would have to kill him first." Dumbledore merely stared at me, expressionless, before I realized the meaning of this. "I can't! I can't help you. Not with this. Please Pro- Albus, you must understand. Tom was everything to me when I was in school. He was my first friend, my first love…" Dumbledore looked at me pityingly.

"Come, now. You know that is not true. Tom Riddle is not capable of love or friendship. He deceived you, as he deceived everyone around him. He is manipulative and cruel and incapable of feeling altogether. The only emotions he can ever know, or will ever know, are hate, jealousy, anger, and fear. Most of all, fear. He used you, and even now, as long as you play into his hands, as long as you keep with you the image of the Tom Riddle that he wanted you to see, he continues to use you for his own purposes."

I knew in my heart that Dumbledore was right. I knew it, even as he once again patted my hand and shook his head sympathetically. I wanted so badly to help Dumbledore, to make him understand that it wasn't Tom's fault, that he couldn't help that his pitiful existence had made his outlook on life so cruel and spiteful, but I couldn't get the words out. The Tom Riddle I had known had never existed. It was only what I had wanted to believe, and had never managed to fully convince myself that it was true. It had all been a lie, and I swore then and there that I would do everything it took to bring down Tom. I wouldn't run away if things got too hard or frustrating like they did the last time.

"What will it be called?"

"The Order of the Phoenix."

"And you really think that me joining will make all the difference?" Dumbledore smiled gently at me.

"I think it will." I took a deep steadying breath, managing to choke down the tears that had been threatening to overwhelm me only seconds before. I nodded silently and Dumbledore beamed at me. "Wonderful! Now, how would you like a tour of the school? I have a student in Transfiguration that could surpass even you and Tom put together." I giggled and raised my eyebrows.

"Oh really? And this student is?"

"James Potter. Quite the brilliant young boy, although he is a bit of a trouble maker. He and that Sirius Black together have the school in absolute chaos every other day," Dumbledore said, laughing fondly. I joined him until I recognized the last name.

"Black? Hopefully not a complete git like the rest of the family." Phineas Black shot me a withering glare from his portrait and muttered something under his breath about the degradation of wizarding youth these days. Dumbledore and I both ignored him as we made our way down the stairs and past the stone gargoyles that jumped out of our way.

"Oh no. He is a rather charming young man. The first Black in generations to be sorted into Gryffindor." I smiled as students began to pour out into the hallways, giving me many curious looks as I was A) walking with Dumbledore and B) obviously of school age yet not a student. I smiled and looked up at Dumbledore.

"Well that's good. If only we could get rid of the Slytherin breed altogether." Dumbledore looked at me sharply and I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry. But I've never known a decent Slytherin in my life. I thought I did, and then look what he turned out to be." The remark stung, even as I said it, and I pushed the disfigured face of Tom Riddle into the back of my mind, refusing to think about it.

"I do understand what you are saying. But it is in times like these that we need to unite. Prejudices must be abolished in the face of a crisis," he replied. I conceded his point and commented that the hallways were starting to thin out.

"Yes. Actually, I do know of someone who would be quite pleased to see you," he told me, leading me to a familiar corridor.

"Is the Hogwarts staff going to be the first set of recruits for your club?" I asked teasingly. He smiled but said nothing, instead leading me to Professor Slughorn's classroom. "I must speak with Professor Slughorn for but a moment." He quietly led the way inside the classroom. The first thing I saw when I walked in was the robust figure of Professor Slughorn demonstrating a correct Calming Draught.

"Now, we add only 3 drops of dragon blood. And be careful that- Mr. Longbottom I said only 3! You have obviously put in much more than is required!" he said to a panicked young man a few rows back, who promptly jumped back from his overflowing cauldron. The pretty, round faced girl next to him screamed as green sparks shot from the cauldron and two boys at the very back of the classroom began to roar in laughter. Professor Slughorn waved his wand and the became empty. Sheepishly the boy sat back down and grinned at the two boys at the back, one of whom called out, "Nice going, Frank! If you pour in the entire flask next time maybe you'd burn down the classroom and we'd get out of this class for the day." Dumbledore cleared his throat and Slughorn jumped to face him.

"Well, well, Albus. Pleasant surprise! How may I assist you today?" And then he looked at me and jumped again. "And you must be related to Ana Tchaikovsky! Goodness if I hadn't taught her myself 40 years ago…. But the resemblance is uncanny!" he exclaimed quietly. The class had now pretty much given up on trying to continue with the potion and were either fooling around or staring at me. He patted my arm. " And I am going to assume you are not a student here?" I smiled at Professor Slughorn.

"Unfortunately no. Although I do hear many good things about Hogwarts, and have heard all sorts of stories from my mother about this school. It almost makes me regret that I live in America and not here." The professor and I laughed, my forced American accent obviously fooling him. The class continued to grow louder as more people stopped paying attention to the adults and started talking to their friends.

Only two people were still doing their work. A pretty young red haired girl who looked to be in maybe her 5th and a pale greasy haired boy the same age. They were working intently on completing their assignment, every once in a while stopping to whisper something to the other and have a good laugh. I assumed most of the time they were making fun of the handsome boy in the back, who was loudly whispering, "Snivellus! Maybe Slughorn would brew you a different shampoo, since what you've got obviously isn't doing you any good." The other dark haired boy next to him had buried his face in the boy's back in an attempt to stifle his laughter. The girl urged the boy next to her to ignore him, but his tightened grip on the knife he had been using to cut up his dragon heartstrings gave away the rage that he was trying to control.

"Hey Potter! Why don't you and Black spend less time bullying Severus and more time trying to find a spell that with deflate your giant ego, you arrogant moron!" the red haired girl spat at him. Potter and the other boy, whom I assumed was Black, immediately stopped laughing. Potter opened his mouth to retort, but apparently couldn't think of anything to say, and the girl turned around and continued working before he could get the chance. The hook nosed boy next to her, Severus, blushed and gave her a grateful smile, which she returned. Potter and Black got up from their table to confer with the sandy-haired boy in front of them. I couldn't see the faces of Black or Potter, but the sandy-haired kid gave an exasperated yell and covered his face with his hands as the two boys stalked over to Severus and the red-head. Severus saw them coming and jumped up before they got too close, wand already out and pointed at them.

"Please do it. I would so love to see you try," he snarled at Black and Potter, whose hands were halfway to their pockets. Both boys glared at Severus, and Severus returned the look with one just as condescending. At that moment I wondered where Dumbledore and Slughorn were.

"What is this? Wands away! All of you! You are fifth years. I don't know how you can be prepared to take your OWLs if every time I leave the room you three start fighting. No more!" Severus looked slightly remorseful, probably more for disappointing Slughorn than actually threatening the other two boys, but he put his wand away all the same and sat down. The two boys trudged back to their seats just as Slughorn looked at his watch and sighed.

"All right everyone. Don't even bother bottling up your flasks. I doubt a single one of you has finished." The red haired girl in front raised her hand.

"Professor, Severus and I have finished," she told him. He clapped his hands together and beamed.

"Of course! Lily Evans and Severus Snape! I should have known my dynamic duo would not let me down. Yes let's see. 15 points for each of you should do it. Thank heavens for students like you," he said as Lily and Severus bottled up their potion and the rest of the class trudged out the door, the Potter boy giving Lily a last sulky glance, which she ignored. Black, however, stopped at me.

"So, I didn't think that Hogwarts lets in transfer students," he said, grinning charmingly. I tried to stifle a laugh as I thought of what the boy would do if he knew he was trying to chat up a 50 year old woman. The kid misinterpreted the smile and took it as a good sign, because he continued. "If you'd like, I could show you around. There's a nice little spot right by the lake, very private-" When I thought I would burst from not laughing, the Potter boy darted back in and grabbed his arm, hissing, "Come on, Padfoot! We'll be laet!" When he was safely out of earshot, I burst into laughter, and surprisingly so did Lily. I looked at her and she grinned.

"Sorry. I couldn't help overhearing. That entire lot is a bunch of pompous toe rags, except for Remus. He's alright, and he keeps them out of trouble for the most past. Trust me, they'd be a lot worse if it weren't for him." She extended her hand to me and smiled. "I'm Lily."

I returned her smile and shook the offered hand. "I'm A-Lana." Lily looked at me quizzically.

"Alana? That's a pretty name." I grimaced, "Er, yes, right, thanks," and she laughed. I knew right off the bat that I liked this girl. She was quite nice. "This is Severus," she said, jerking her head in the direction of the hook-nosed boy Potter and Black had been teasing. He nodded his head curtly at me and returned my hello, then walked out of the room when he got tired of waiting for Lily. After talking some more, she waved good bye and exited, probably to go find Severus. I laughed quietly, and felt a small tug at my robes. Both professors were behind me.

"Well young lady, it has been a pleasure meeting you! Do tell your mother hello for me when you see her!" Both Slughorn's smile and jovial tone seemed forced, and he looked like he rather couldn't wait until Dumbledore and I left. Quickly he ushered us out of his classroom, and with a last farewell, promptly slammed the door in our faces. Dumbledore started humming and walked away from me, and I hurried to catch up with his long strides.

"Well, he took the news rather well," I said sarcastically. Dumbledore stopped humming and chuckled.

"Yes, he was quite surprised when I told him that you were not merely a relative of Ana Tchaikovsky, but actually hid old pupil returned from America after 30 years. It seems seeing you has brought back some painful memories for him." I looked at him curiously, but he didn't elaborate, so I decided to leave it alone. I assumed, though, that it probably had to do with Tom, and changed the subject.

"So who's the new staff this year?" Dumbledore told me, and I stopped him when he told me the name of the Transfiguration teacher.

"McGonagall?" I asked, "The bossy Gryffindor a few years above me?" Dumbledore laughed, a real laugh this time, and nodded. He started to respond, but held his tongue when we heard voices approaching. I had already guessed who it was by the time they came round.

"Afternoon, Professor. Are you and our guest headed down to the Great Hall for lunch?" he asked looking rather pointedly at me. Dumbledore's beard twitched, and, out of sheer respect for the man, I resisted hexing him. The boy grinned at me, and the three boys behind him sniggered.

"Good afternoon, Sirius. I was not planning on attending lunch in the Great Hall, although if my guest is hungry you may certainly do the honor of making sure she gets sustenance," he replied amiably. His eyes twinkled and his beard was now twitching almost uncontrollably in an effort not to laugh, and everyone was looking at me so see my answer. I hadn't lost my amiable smile, but groaned inwardly.

"Give it up, Pads," Potter whispered loudly, and Sirius Black glared at him. I gave Dumbledore, who knew that I did not turn down food, _ever_, a look that clearly said, "I'll get you for this," and consented to having lunch at the Gryffindor table with him and his friends.

Author's note: This is not a Marauder romance, and they should be out of the picture by mid next chapter. Sorry if this was rushed, but the next chapter will be better. Remember, read and review. I'm open to constructive criticism and respond to all reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! I only own my OC, Ana. Enjoy the chapter.**

Along the way to the Great Hall, I was introduced to James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. James and Sirius were obviously the leaders of this small group. People, girls especially, giggled and called out greetings to the two handsome, enigmatic young men. I could see why they were popular, as I listened to their bantering. Remus was frail and shy, but commanded an air of authority all the same. As Lily had told me, he kept the other boys in check, his stern glances and sharp comments seeming to be the only thing that James and Sirius listened to. Although not as handsome as his two best friends, he was quite a good looking boy with blond hair and gray eyes, and seemed to attract just as much attention as the other two walking down the hallway. Peter Pettigrew, on the other hand, confused me. I had no idea why these popular, charismatic boys would hang out with him.

"Peter, run ahead and save us some spots at the table," James told him offhandedly. _Oh yes, that would be why_, I thought wryly as the pudgy boy squeaked excitedly and almost tripped over his own feet running to the Great Hall. James and Sirius snickered, and Remus shook his head.

"Really now, you two. He isn't a house elf," he scolded. The other two hung their heads and pretended to sniff back tears, but I did see they looked a little ashamed when they saw the glare that Remus fixed them with.

"Aw Mooney, he likes it. Makes him feel like he's doing something important," Sirius whined. Remus shook his head again, but didn't respond. When we got to the table, James grabbed the last scone and gave it to Peter, who looked at it longingly. Sirius and James looked at Remus, and a small smile told them that they were forgiven. The boys finally relaxed knowing that they were back on Remus' good side. I saw Lily sitting near the end of the table with the pretty girl from their Potions class and some other girls and she gave me a wide grin and made her way over to me.

"I see the Marauders have recruited you to their fan club," she teased. James perked up considerately and gave her a wide grin.

"You can join, too Evans, if you give me something in return." James winked at Lily, who made a face like she had swallowed a Snitch. Peter and Remus pretended to be immersed in homework, and Sirius shook his head warningly. Without a word, she pointed her wand at James and shouted an incantation. Only a few seconds later, James sprouted donkey ears. The kid was mortified, and I almost felt sorry for him.

"Nice. Did you make it up yourself?" Lily grinned and nodded at me. After Remus begged her for five minutes she reluctantly got rid of the donkey ears. James looked only slightly relieved. "Do you want to come sit with me?" Lily asked. I shook my head.

"Nah. Lunch is almost over and I'm nearly done with my food. In fact, I should probably go find Al- er, I mean, Professor Dumbledore, so I can continue with the rest of my tour." I got up and started walking away, but Sirius grabbed my arm.

"Wait! I'll walk you." I started to protest, but a loud bang sounded from outside the Great Hall. Almost instantaneously, all heads turned in Sirius' direction. "Actually, I've just remembered. I have lots of homework and studying to catch up on. But maybe I'll see you around." With that, he and James both exchanged a glance and ran out the doors.

"Another one of their pranks. Don't worry. I'll help you find the professor," said a quiet voice at my side. I turned to meet the stormy gray eyes of Remus Lupin. I smiled. There didn't seem to be any harm in letting him help me. Besides, I really did need to find Albus so we could figure out what I needed to do about this Order of the Phoenix situation and get back to my hotel room. I agreed and we wandered out of the Great Hall. Green smoke filled the air and there wa s a gurgling noise coming from one of the corridors. Remus calmly took me through another entrance and up a staircase, where we almost had to battle a suit of armor that Peeves had possessed, thinking it funny to try to behead us with the battle axe. We stopped at a window near the Transfiguration room, laughing quietly and trying to catch our breath.

"Are you all right?" I grinned at him and pushed my dark hair out of my face. "Yes. I'm fine. Although Peeves didn't have that much creativity in my time." The look of pure shock on Remus' face registered with me, and before I could explain, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Albus was there, waiting patiently.

"Ana, I'm afraid you must come with me. " Remus looked from me, to Albus, and back again, trying to figure out what was going on, and why he had called me Ana. I said a quick good bye to the poor boy, and swiftly exited the corridor with Albus.

"We cannot afford to make mistakes like that," he finally said after a few moments of silence. I nodded quickly. "Fidangle." The stone gargoyles sprung aside and we climbed the staircase into his office. Professor Dippet nodded enthusiastically at me and continued his game of wizarding chess with an old wizard with bushy gray eyebrows. Professor Nigellus gave me a dirty look. I obviously wasn't forgiven for making that crack about the Black family. Finally, I turned to face Albus. His blue eyes met my own.

"Well, what do we do now?"

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_Alana,_

_Thank you for your wonderful gift. James and I were so pleased that you could make it to the ceremony! You looked absolutely stunning in the gown that I so lovingly picked out for you when we were shopping together. Of course, we were rather disappointed that you could not stay for the wedding reception, but I know that you wouldn't have missed it unless you absolutely had to (And let me tell you, you had better have a very good reason for missing it!). Padfoot especially was quite crestfallen when he realized he had to dance with one of the other bridesmaids. Please Alana, give him a chance. He is a very sweet man, and you must admit he has matured so much! Well, that is enough pleading on his behalf. I miss you and we will make plans for you to visit the new house when James and I get back form the honeymoon. As we here in France say, au revoir!_

_Love love love your best friend,_

_Lils_

I sighed and set the letter from Lily down on my mahogany end table, in front of the photo of Lily and I from the wedding. For years now Lily had been begging me to give Sirius a chance. She was right, he had changed so much from an obnoxious teenager into a handsome, mature young man. I laughed and shook my head. After being woken up at 3:oo in the morning by an irate owl pecking at me for change, I had given up sleep.

I wandered into my kitchen and opened the pantry to see a bag of crisps. A search through my fridge provided me with onion dip or dill dip. After pondering my choices, I decided that they both tasted the same, and put the onion away. I sat at my island and looked around. My kitchen was by far my favorite room of the tiny cottage that I lived in, only a couple of blocks over from where Lily and James would soon be settling in. The kitchen was the largest room. It had yellow carpeting, something I thought made it more homey and James said made him nauseous, and white paint on the walls, although it was not boring, thanks to the small paintings and such I had displayed. The counter tops were turquoise marble tops, as did the top of the tiny island in the middle of the kitchen, where my sink was located. I did not have a dishwasher, but it was fine with me as I lived alone. I settled down with an old holiday crossword I had never finished.

After only an hour had passed, I got another owl. It was from Albus, telling me that he would be coming around at about noon, and that there was a matter of utmost urgency that he needed to discuss with me. I paid the owl, who was trying to sneak a few crisps, and scrawled a note telling Albus that I would be here. It left and I settled back down at my crossword. Not even ten minutes later, I heard a tap at the window. A large black and brown owl was perched on my ledge. I let it in and immediately had to disentangle it from the chandelier it had flown into. It let out an indignant hoot and held out it's leg for me. I took the parchment tied to its leg and began to read.

_Alana, _

_I'm coming by round noon. Dumbledore told us to meet at your house. See you very soon._

_Sirius_

I was puzzled, wondering what Albus could have to say to both Sirius and I. I was answered by another impatient peck at the window. I let the owl in, a small reddish one that I recognized as Remus'.

_Alana,_

_Dumbledore has told me to meet at your house at noon. Do you happen to know what on earth is going on?_

_Remus_

Both owls were now positively mauling my crisps, and I stood in my kitchen absolutely bewildered. What was happening that could be so urgent? There was a loud screech an another owl, a snowy white one, flew into my kitchen. "What is with all of these damn birds?" I yelled to my empty kitchen. I read the note that Lily's owl had brought me.

_I know you're awake. James and I are coming by Floo. We should be there in twenty minutes. _

For the next five minutes I stood in the kitchen being pecked to death by all three birds who were demanding a letter in return. I retaliated by taking a rolled up issue of _The Daily Prophet _and chasing the birds around the kitchen with it. That was the scene that Lily and James walked in on. The snowy bird flew over to Lily and settled on her shoulder, eyeing me suspiciously. "And you wonder why I hate bloody owls so much," I grumbled. The other two had settled down and were munching happily at the crisps on my table. The happy couple was still laughing hysterically at my expense. Finally, Lily wiped the tears from her eyes and caught her breath.

"How about we go into the living room?" she suggested. I scowled, but gave both her and James a big hug and led them into the next room. I waved my wand when we entered, and the pull out couch that served as my bed immediately folded itself back up. The pillows and blankets flew into a mahogany chest near my small television set, and the coffee table moved itself back into the center of the room.

"God it's even tinier than I remembered," Lily laughed. I grinned at her. She had moved in with me temporarily before she and James got married. It would have been disastrous if it had been anyone other than Lily, but as we were so close, it was mostly one long sleepover for us. Shortly after we sat down, there was a knock at the door. The three of us cast a puzzled look at the door, and I got up to answer it. Standing on my doorstep was Remus and Sirius. Both men smiled at me.

"Hullo Ana," Remus greeted me. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Morning Remus. James and Lily are in the living room. I'll be in in a moment." He took off his jacket and hung it up on the hook. Sirius blinked blearily at me, and I realized he must have only rolled out of bed a little earlier. He had on gray sweatpants, a pair of black slippers, and a black t-shirt. His black hair made James' hair look tidy. I laughed and kissed him on the cheek too.

"You didn't have to come here at 6:00 in the morning." He grinned and brightened slightly.

"Well everyone else was doing it. 'Sides, I couldn't get back to sleep. I've been up for an hour." I let him in and closed the door, and we both went back to the living room.

"So how's the new place working out? When can I come see it?" I asked. He put a hand behind his bed and grinned.

"It's open anytime. 516 Brewster Lane," he said. I nodded and conjured up some tea and biscuits. Both Lily and I liked our tea with milk and honey, so I conjured up some of that too. James turned to Remus.

"And what about you? Have you found a place yet?" Remus' eyes flashed a dangerous golden color and James blinked at him, looking slightly sheepish. I studied Remus. He looked older than his seventeen years. His blond hair was already starting to gray, and his face was gaunt and worn. Lily leaned over a put a hand on his arm.

"Remus. If you are having trouble finding a place, you always know you can stay with one of us." James, Sirius and I all nodded. He sighed and put down his teacup. I automatically waved my wand. A coaster flew under the tea cup. James stared at me with wide hazel eyes.

"You remind me of my grandmother when you do stuff like that," he said, shaking his head in a slightly wierded-out manner. _I'm old enough to be your grandmother, that's for sure_, I thought, trying not to laugh. Remus stared down at his lap, and finally spoke.

"You are all my friends. And I know that initially you would be glad to have me. But after awhile, it would take it's toll on you. Let us not forget, I am a werewolf. I can't get a job. I can't get decent housing. And do you really want to have that sort of responsibility? James and Lily, you are newlyweds, I can't put you in that position. You are just starting your lives together. Sirius, your house is not protected to accommodate a full- grown werewolf. And Alana, your house is barely big enough for you, much less a grown man _and _a werewolf. I can't take up your offer." We sat quietly, thinking about no matter how much it hurt, he was right. "Besides, I think I might have found a job. Mr. Pendleton, the Muggle shop keeper a few blocks from here, is looking for assistants. He offered me a job. And there's a decent flat over in the next town."

"But why would you have to go to the next town when you could just stay here with us, in Godrics Hollow?" Sirius asked. I silently cursed Remus for being so damn proud. Remus gave him a warning look and Sirius fell silent. All I could hear was the ticking of the clock on the opposite wall. Everyone was thinking about Remus. We all worried about him, and rightly too. Lily tossed her flaming red hair over her shoulder and leaned across the table towards me.

"Saw that greasy git, Snivellus, today in Diagon Alley. Little bugger looked so out of place I thought he'd gotten lost," Sirius said, adding more sugar to his tea and shoving a full biscuit in his mouth. Lily, Remus, and I frowned, at him calling Severus 'Snivellus', and because crumbs of biscuit fell out of his mouth when he spoke.

Lily sighed. "I wish you guys would stop calling him that. He was my best friend at some point in time, in case you've forgotten." James scowled and settled back into the couch, wrapping his arms around Lily.

"You know, you guys weren't the most pleasant lot when you were in school, either," I pointed out to James and Sirius. They both looked at me in surprise.

"Yeah, but _he _was worse," James argued

Sirius nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yeah. Nasty toad always following us around and trying to find out where Moony went every time he was absent from classes." I began to point out that _they_ were the ones that had always been following Severus around trying to hex him at every shot they could get. Then I decided to was only 8:00 in the morning and wouldn't do to get everyone all riled up, so I kept quiet. Lily, I could tell, was thinking the same thing, and kept her mouth shut. I clapped my hands happily and lifted myself off from the floor in front of the fireplace where I had been sitting.

"All right. Well, I'm going to make breakfast. Who wants to help?" James and Sirius both grimaced at the thought of cooking, but Lily and Remus smiled and followed me to the kitchen. Once there, I flicked my wand at the stove and all three knobs turned on to medium. "Right. So I'll handle pancakes. Lily, you can take coffee cake. And Remus, you can come over here and be in charge of bacon and eggs." We set to work at once, Lily looked into the cookbook and flicked her wand in every direction. Remus and I had to duck repeatedly from being hit in the head with flying mixing bowls and I nearly had my eye stabbed right out by a random kitchen knife. I flicked my wand, and all of the supplies landed neatly on the counter in front of me. Lily sighed wistfully.

"I was one of the best witches in my class, and I still can't do simple housework with a wand without putting other people's lives in danger," she whined, as I rubbed at the eye that had come close to not even being there anymore. "I'll never be a good housewife. What is James going to do when he finds out that I can't even make breakfast using just my wand?" she pouted quietly. Remus and I glared at her. I put an arm around her and gave her a small hug.

"It's not the end of the world. You'll get used to it. After all, you're brilliant. You just need some practice. I mean, you-we-just graduated. We shouldn't have to know these things yet." She didn't look reassured. Instead, her green eyes filled with tears and she banged a wooden mixing spoon down on the counter. Remus pretended he wasn't hearing the conversation.

"But you do!" she cried in dismay. She sniffled and handed her a napkin to wipe her face.

"Look Lils," I said seriously, putting both hands on her shoulders and forcing her to look at me, "You are wonderful. And you have a wonderful husband, who will love you no matter what. Trust me, I'm your best friend. I wouldn't lie to you," I assured her. She grinned at me and we both laughed. The tension in her face was gone, but she looked very tired. I told her to go lie down, seeing as she was completely exhausted. She thanked me graciously and squeezed my hand.

"It's weird, you know. I'm just so tired all the time now. And I feel sick." She did look a little pale, and before I could comment, she took off in the direction of the bathroom. I was puzzled at first, but then I turned to grin at Remus, who was looking both shocked and very pleased. I flicked my wand in the direction of the ingredients and opened the lid on the trash can so all of the egg shells and things could drop in there after they cracked.

"So," he began, "Do you think she realizes?" I laughed and started to stir the mixture. The bacon on the griddle turned itself over.

"She would be a fool not to," I said. I put down my spoon and put my chin in my hands. "Imagine, a little James Potter running around, wreaking havoc on Spinners End?" Remus smiled fondly and we continued making breakfast.

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"So, I do have bad news. I have been in communication with Alastor Moody, and he has confirmed my suspicions which I voiced at our last meeting. Somebody has been leaking information to Lord Voldemort." James held Lily's hand, who was still looking quite pale. Sirius, Remus, and I exchanged dark looks. Albus sighed and took a bite of his eggs. "By the way, Mr. Lupin, these eggs are very good. I should like to learn how to make them one day." I laughed, fondly recalling how eccentric Albus had always been. Sirius and James grinned half-heartedly.

"Do you know who it is that's feeding information?" Remus asked. Dumbledore too a few bites of coffee cake before shaking his head sadly. His blue eyes looked dim, and he looked even more weary than usual. He had been traveling more often lately. "I do not." We spent the next hour and a half discussing who it could be and future missions while munching down our breakfast. Finally Albus pushed away his plate.

"This has been a rather excellent meal, but if you all do not mind, I would like to speak to Alana alone." Everyone looked surprised, but they all gathered up their coats. Sirius gave me a quick kiss and said good bye, then Apparated back to his house with a loud crack. Remus gave me a hug and thanked me for allowing him to help cook breakfast, and he too Apparated. James and Lily left by Floo, with a promise from me to come and visit the new house when it was ready. Finally, everyone was gone.

I looked at Albus expectantly. "You have known for some time now that eventually, there will be a time when Tom will find you. I think it is very close. " I sighed and looked down.

"I wont leave Spinners End. I have built some sort of a life here. Eventually, I will have to leave. Even in the wizarding world, it isn't natural to look 15 forever. But I want to prolong that as much as possible." Albus looked down and folded his hands on the dining room table. Finally, he looked up at me, and once again, there was that pitying look in his eyes.

"Ana, you-"

"No," I stated firmly, "I will not leave. And if you try to make me, expect that I will refuse all your protection. You will never see me or hear from me again. I will leave the Order." I knew the threat would stick with him, and I was right. He sighed and gave me that sad look, but did not argue. The ticking of the clock above my head seemed to amplify to the point where it was hurting my ears. I rubbed my temples, already feeling a migraine coming along. "Albus, I won't talk about this anymore. Thank you for stopping by and telling us your suspicions, but I'm afraid I must ask you to leave."

There was a slight pause and I resisted the urge to hex him out of my house. I was no match for Albus. I'd probably end up a peacock for the next few weeks if I even tried it. "Very well, then. Good day." There was a loud crack, and when I looked up, Albus was gone. My breath came out in a whoosh."

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"Harry! Look here, darling! Alana, try waving that rattle over there." I waved my wand and a rattle flew up behind Lily's head. Little Harry grinned happily and Lily quickly snapped the picture on her camera. I set Harry down on the floor and ran over to Lily, who was squealing loudly about how well the picture had come out. Sirius and James were out, so Lily and I were watching our new little bundle of joy. At 8 months he was a beautiful baby boy with hair as black and messy as his father's, sparkling green eyes, and a charming smile.

We settled on the couch and watched Harry crawl over to the toy broomstick Sirius had presented at the baby shower. It was the one toy Harry refused to put down, and was relatively safe as it hovered less than a foot off the ground. So far he had taken more than his fair share of spills, but James would proudly say that every good Quidditch player had to fall before he could become a better rider. There was a loud crack as we cooed over the picture. We looked up to see the sunny, smiling face of Alice Longbottom standing in the middle of the living room.

She set her little boy, Neville, down, and came over to greet us. "Hullo, all. Neville and I were over at his Gran's house and we decided to pop in and say hi. Hope I'm not disturbing anything." Lily beamed and we assured her that she wasn't. For the rest of the night we chatted about the kids and watched Neville and Harry fight over the toy broom, which Lily took a picture of and quickly promised to make a copy of for Alice and Frank.

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_Alana,_

_Get out of the house. He found Lily and James. They're gone. Harry is alive. _

_Sirius_

The room spun. The ministry had warned all of the witches and wizards in Godrics Hollow and the surrounding areas to either flee or to barricade themselves in their homes. I set enchantments on my house to make it completely invisible to both Muggles and magical folk. I had heard the explosion, and the screaming, and the firemen rushing to the area that Tom had attacked. I had heard the hundreds of cracks as Ministry officials Apparated and Disapparated outside.

I couldn't catch my breath. _They're gone._ What did that mean? Had they left? Was Sirius wrong? But the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach intensified and I urged myself not to start screaming, because I knew I wouldn't be able to stop. I looked again at Sirius' letter, and folded it up. I didn't even pack my stuff. I pictured the inside of Remus' flat, and closed my eyes. There was a tug on my entire body, and when I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was the bent, sobbing figure of Remus Lupin, clutching a letter that I guessed was also from Sirius. He looked up when he heard me appear. The grief in his face was so strong that I couldn't hold back my own tears anymore. I ran at him and stood on tiptoe to wrap my arms around him. We stood like that, crying loudly and letting the pain wash over us.

"How Remus? How did they know?" I sobbed. Remus didn't answer. His face was blank and drawn. He had stopped crying, but his voice was trembling when he spoke.

"I don't know. Sirius would never have betrayed them. He must have found out some other way." I nodded and fished a handkerchief out of the pocket of my robes. We sat down on the couch, and waited for someone to come with news.

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"But how could he still be alive? Why didn't Voldemort finish him? Why Lily and James?" Remus yelled. Sirius stood in the middle of the flat, shaking and crying.

"I don't know. He tried. Voldemort he tried to kill-" Sirius stopped himself, obviously too heartbroken to continue. I was tired of guessing, and angry, and filled with grief. So I stood up and said goodbye and Flooed to the person I knew would have the answers.

When I entered Albus' office, he was startled, and quickly wiped at a tear on his cheek. I stood in front of the desk, trying with every ounce of strength I had left in me to remain composed, hands balled into fists at my sides. "What-Why-Albus, I-" I tried to ask. But I couldn't get any words out, and burst into tears. Albus took my arm and conjured the stiff wooden pupil's chair into a plushy blue armchair. He also conjured up a box of tissues and a cup of hot lemon tea. After helping me settle down into the chair, he sat back in his own and sipped at a cup of clear liquid sitting on his desk.

"Tom came to Godrics Hollow. He found the cottage," Albus began quietly, looking down at the desk, "James came outside and saw him first. Voldemort killed him on the spot. He found Lily in the upstairs bedroom. Neighbors could hear her screaming for mercy. He killed her, too. And then he turned his wand on Harry." I shuddered violently and took deep breaths of air, willing myself not to get sick. "He tried to kill Harry. But he did not succeed. On the night of October 31st, the Dark Lord's power broke, and Harry James Potter became the only known person to have survived the Killing Curse, with nothing more than a small scar on his forehead." All of the breath left my body, and I stared at him, open-mouthed. Albus idly sipped his drink again and held out a bowl of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans that I hadn't noticed before. "Would you like a bean?" At first I couldn't speak.

"Harry is okay?" Albus met my eyes and smiled.

"Oh yes, he is quite alright. He is with his aunt and uncle." I started to speak, but he held up a finger. "I ask that you do not attempt to contact him." For a moment I was flat out stunned.

"And may I ask why not? Lily was my best friend! I was more of an aunt to Harry than Lily's own damn sister! And I know all about those Muggles. Lily has told me that her sister and the husband are quite the unpleasant lot that hate anything magical. What in the world could possess you to do such a thing!" I finished my rant, breathing heavily and wanting so badly for Albus to say that this was some sick joke. That Lily and James were still alive and Harry would not be living with people who hated him. But he said nothing. His frown told me not to question his judgment, but I glared at him, demanding an answer, until he finally sighed and stood up.

"As long as Harry is with blood relatives, he is safe. Tom can not touch him, and the remaining Death Eaters would never guess where he was. They would come looking for you, Sirius, or Remus before they ever suspected his loathsome relatives." I screamed wordlessly, knowing he as right and angry that I couldn't do anything to stop it. So I glared at him one final time, and Flooed back to my apartment.

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Sirius Black Under Arrest for Mass Murder of One Wizard and Thirteen Muggles. Many More Injured.

Sadly, I shook my head and put the paper down. I couldn't even count the number of hours I had spent crying the past two weeks, but now I cried again. I remembered the eager excitement on his face whenever he came over to Lily and James', or when he came to St. Mungo's when he had heard that Lily was giving birth, or the pride on his face when he presented little Harry with the little baby toys. He had always wanted to belong.

I cried for the loss of the Sirius I thought I'd known, and for the loss of a sad young man by the name of Peter Pettigrew.

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I was folding laundry when Frank and Alice knocked at my door. I let them in quickly, and realized they had Neville with them. I smiled, pleased that they had come. "Frank! Alice! Please, come in and have some tea." And then I realized something was wrong. They weren't following me into the parlor. The couple had their heads up high, determined and ready for…something.

"We need you to keep Neville with you for a bit. The ministry found the Lestranges and we're going after them. If something happens, the Ministry will contact Frank's mother and she'll come round and get him." Alice's voice sounded strained and and she pushed her straight brown hair out of her face. Frank's blue eyes sparkled. He loved being an Auror, and was always excited when going off on a chase. Usually, so was Alice, but I knew this time was different. The Letranges had killed countless numbers of people, and the Dark Lord's defeat had only further inflames them. It would be difficult, and more dangerous than any other mission they'd ever had to go after Bellatrix and Rodolphus. I smiled shakily and gave Alice a hug.

"I'll take care of him," I promised. Frank and Alice left. It was the last time I would ever see them happy and healthy. That night, Alice and Frank Longbottom were tortured so severely by the Lestranges that they were diagnosed as clinically insane, almost vegetables. The Ministry got there before Bellatrix and her husband could escape. They were arrested, and showed no remorse at their trial.

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The Order fell apart. For 15 years, i lived quietly in my little cottage in Godrics Hollow. Until one day, when i saw the headline on the Daily Prophet.

Lord Voldemort had risen again. And Harry Potter had escaped, once again.


	4. Chapter 4

-1I stood awkwardly on a dark, rundown street in London. There was a little piece of paper in my hand reading '_Number 12, Grimmauld Place'_. I wondered what I was supposed to do with this little piece of paper. There were no instructions written on it. I looked around warily. It was quite a dodgy little place. I could hear a couple brawling inside their house, and it made me cringe. There were no streetlights here. Suddenly, I had a thought. _What if this isn't from Albus? What if someone is just trying to get me here, alone?_ It did make sense. If someone were to attack me, nobody would think any different of my screams of protest. In a neighbourhood such as this one, it was probably all too common.

There was a scuffling at the end of the street. A man wearing hooded robes was walking down the street. He stopped, though, when he saw me. I didn't make a move. Instead, I gripped my wand tightly and drew it out of my robes. If it was a witch or wizard, they would be able to see the threat. If it was a Muggle, they probably wouldn't have noticed and they certainly wouldn't have been impressed by something that looked like no more than a stick to them. "Can I help you?" the figure asked when she was close enough. I noted that the voice was female. I didn't know whether to trust this person or not, until she whispered "lumos" and pointed her wand at my face. There was a gasp and her hood fell back. I recognized the face of one of the old Order members, Emmeline Vance.

She was older, of course. Her real shock probably stemmed form the fact that the girl she used to know was standing in front of her, still looking like she hadn't even graduated from school yet. The second she had taken me all in, we both pointed our wands at each other, in the stance for a duel. She looked torn between confusion and anger. "Death Eater!" she cried uncertainly. I shook my head quickly.

"I'm not a Death Eater, Emli!" I shouted, using my old nickname for her. Her eyes widened even more and she slowly lowered her wand. She had more wrinkles, but still had the same dignified posture. Her usually stern expression was replaced by bewilderment and fear. The fighting from the house had stopped, and I approached Emmeline cautiously. I didn't want her deciding that I was lying and hexing me into oblivion. She had a mean Jelly Legs Jinx that didn't go away for days. I handed her the paper and said, "I think Albus sent it to me. I don't know where it is." She seemed relieved when she saw the paper. I raised my eyebrows.

"Only members of the Order can use it. Just say the words out loud." I repeated the words on the piece of paper, and before my eyes, the houses labeled "11" and "13" respectively began to move apart to reveal a larger, and even dirtier and more depressed looking, looking town home. "Welcome back," she smiled, as the paper in my hand burst into flames. I flicked my wand at my trunk and carry along packs, all of which followed me as I walked through the door. Inside, it was warmer in temperature, but still dank and musty. It was altogether obviously a home that used to belong to dark wizards, judging by the troll leg umbrella holder in the hallway.

The second I walked in I felt a body barrel right into me. From my place on the floor, I could see a worried red haired boy, asking if I was okay. I nodded and he helped me up, then grinned. "Sorry 'bout that." There was a furious scream, and into the hall walked a very pretty red haired girl. The two were obviously related.

"Fred, give it back!" she yelled, stamping her foot and pulling out her wand. Fred just grinned and Disapparated. "Mum!" the girl screamed angrily, running back into whichever room she had walked out from. I laughed and Emmeline led me through to a dining room and past the dining room to the kitchen. Fixing what I assumed was dinner was a plump, red haired woman with a pleasant face and the pouting red-haired girl. Trying to help was a pretty woman in purple robes and long, platinum blonde hair. The plump woman warded her off in the nicest way possible. All conversation stopped when I walked in.

"Newest member," she told the red haired woman. The woman, when she heard me referred to as a member, looked like she might have a stroke.

"B-but she-she's just-" Emmeline interrupted her disjointed protests.

"This is Ana Tchaikovsky. She was an original member of the Order." Emmeline's tone was final and she bid me farewell. I waved and heard the door shut, leaving me alone with the woman and two girls. The red haired woman smiled and introduced herself as Molly Weasley and the younger girl as Ginny.

"Ginny is in her fourth year at Hogwarts. What year are you in dear?" I smiled at her.

"Oh I'm long out of school Miss. Weasley," I laughed. She looked very taken aback by that information, and it took her a little while to respond, "Just call me Molly, dear." I was also introduced to the blonde witch, Nymphadora Tonks.

"Just call me Tonks. I swear, my mother must have been absolutely barking to have named me Nymphadora," she said, rolling her eyes. I grinned, already liking this woman.

"I think Nymphadora is a very pretty name. Are you still in school too?" Tonks looked as though she had eaten an Acid Pop and shook her head.

"Heavens, no. Just got done with my Auror training." I nodded, and then I did a double take at her hair. It had been blonde, but slowly changed to a chestnut color while I had been talking to her. She realized what had startled me and laughed.

"Tonks is a Metamorphmagus," Ginny told me, giggling. I was still in awe, as Metamorphmagi were very rare. "But I didn't know that they had found another." I was about to argue, but then stopped. Obviously, they had assumed the reason I looked so young was because I was a Metamorphmagus. I decided that until the meeting, I would let them think that. I just shrugged and smiled at the three. Ginny begged me to do a trick for her, but I was saved my Molly, who told Ginny that I was too tired for such things and that the meeting would be starting soon, anyways. Ginny led the way to my room, and sat on my bed while I unpacked.

"It's great that you're here. Besides mum, you and Tonks and I are the only girls in the house." She clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Right. Um, so, how do you like Hogwarts? Who are your teachers?" She shrugged and tilted her head to the side, eyeing the top I was holding in my hands. She told me, and I stopped her when she said the Potions professor's name.

"Severus Snap?" I asked slowly. She nodded. "But he's a Death Eater!" I blurted. She grinned wryly and leaned over towards me conspiratorially, her fiery red hair falling over her shoulders.

"Haven't you heard? He's on our side now," she said sarcastically. I highly doubted that and I knew that it showed on my face. She giggled and stood to help me unpack the rest of my things. We chatted about Hogwarts and I told her a bit about my days there. Of course, I had to fudge it by about 50 years. As we chatted, there was a knock on the door and I turned to see Molly in the doorway. I headed down to the meeting with her and Ginny, to her own dismay, was banished to her bedroom. There was a knock on the door, and someone shouted for us to come in. I went in and molly stood outside to put charms on the door so her kids wouldn't eavesdrop. When I walked in, nearly all conversation stopped. I didn't mind, seeing as I was too shocked myself to say anything.

"What- How- Why- WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON? WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?" I yelled, pointing at Sirius Black. He had changed for the worse. His face was gaunt and pale, and there was a deadness in his black eyes. _Well, being sent to Azkaban for murder would do that to you!_ a tiny voice screamed inside my head. Of course, he looked just as shocked as I did. Albus was calmly sitting in a chair at the head of the long table. His hair was white, his beard was longer, and he had more wrinkles, but other than that, he hadn't changed.

I pointed at Albus. "You!" I yelled accusingly, and then pointed a finger at Sirius, "And you!" Also sitting around the table were two red haired men, one older and the other in his early 20's, an older, excitable little man, Hestia Jones, a tall black man in colorful robes, Emmeline, a smelly bundle of robes (which I didn't even have the brain capacity to try to explain at that moment)Alastor Moody, Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin. There were others, but at those two, my eyes stopped and I stopped pointing at Sirius and Albus to point at Severus and Remus. "And you two!" I was so utterly confused I couldn't take it all in. The rest of the people in the room were watching us, looking almost as confused as I felt. Albus stood up slowly and held his wand in his hand.

"Ana, it is not what you think," he said slowly.

"No! I want to know what is going on! He killed Peter! And he might as well have killed James and Lily!" I cried, jerking my head towards Sirius. "And _he_," I emphasized in the direction of Severus, who sat completely still and expressionless, "is a Death Eater. So I want to know what is going on." Remus stood up and glared at me.

"And I want to know who you are because the last time I checked, Alana Tchaikovsky was 32 years old, not 17!" he snapped. Albus cleared his throat and everyone looked at him. His blue eyes twinkled and he had to fight to keep back his laughter.

"Actually, that is quite interesting, as I happen to know that this is indeed Ana Tchaikovsky, not Alana, and Ana is 69 years old, not 32." I don't think the room could have gotten any quieter. Sirius and Remus had paled to the point where it was almost comical and neither could get any words out. Severus twitched and glared at me. I put my hands over my face and shook my head.

"Why Albus! Why?" I groaned. And then I snapped my head back up. "Wait a minute, my age is not the important thing here. _He's_ a murder and _he's_ a Death Eater! Am I the only one that is concerned by this?" Albus took my arm and literallyu forced me to sit down. I tried to fight against him, but the man was older than me and still ten times stronger. Between Sirius, Severus, Remus, and Albus, I couldn't decide who to direct my glaring at. I settled for just loking down at the table and clicking my teeth annoyingly. Albus cleared his throat again and conjured tea for all of us. I refused to touch mine.

"Now Ana. Sirius did not kill lily or james or peter. You know Sirius was tehe Potter's Secret Keeper. He convinced them to change their minds and give it to peter. He knew the Dark Lord would come after him or Remus for information before they thought of Peter. They did. Unfortunatly, Peter was the one who had been feeding the Dark Lord information about the Order and he todl them where Lily and James were. To make himself look innocent, Peter found Sirius the night that Lily and james died and in front of all of those people, said that Sirius had killed Lily and James. Sirius tried to curse him, but Peter cut off his own finger, belw smoke out of his wand, and Dissapparated in an explosion that left 13 Muggles dead and many more injured." There was growling and I saw both Sirius and Remus fighting not to start screaming and cursing out of anger. Albus continued.

"Sirius broke out of Azkaban using his Animagus form and found Peter, but he escaped before we could bring him to justice. The minister refused to believe that peter was alive and wouldn't pardon Sirius, so Harry and his friend, Hermione, helped Sirius escape. He moved back ehre at the beginning of the summer and has given us his home to use at headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix." I sat back anad took it all in, seeing Sirius in a new light.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. Sirius smiled at me.

"It's alright. Remus here thought I'd done it, too. I admit, Peter was pretty convincing." He said this last part bitterly, the smile completely gone. Remus nodded his head, still too distracted with his general questions about me to give much thought to what Sirius had said.

Albus continued with a nod in Severus' direction. "Severus is in my employment, and I trust him completely. Please do not question this, because to question his loyalty is to question my judgement." The subject of Severus was closed. I could tell.

"But what about Ana?" Remus asked, his eyes still on me. I grinned sheepishly.

"I'm Ana Tchaikovsky. I was born in 1928. I graduated at Hogwarts in 1935. But everything else I've told you is true! I promise," I said earnestly to Remus and Sirius.

"That's not what we want to know! What are you?" asked Sirius. It was torture when I was trying to think of the answer. Dumbledore saved me.

"That is partly why I wanted to call this meeting. Ana went to school with Tom Riddle. She was friends with him, and he took advantage of this, for we know that Tom Riddle does not have friends. He forced her to test a spell for him, one that was undoubtedly for the purpose of living forever. As of now, we still do not know what spell this is and Ana's memories are a bit scrambled at the moment, so I would think that it will be quite a while before we know what exactly was done to preserve Ana in her 14 year old body."

"Yeah, but, I mean, she always looked young, but she never looked 14. I mean, she looks younger than she did the last time I saw her," Sirius sputtered, trying to reason everything out.

"I was taking special potions. Horace Slughorn brewed me a new potion once a month and gave me the vial. I drank a bit every day. It helped me look at least a few years older so you all would not notice that I don't age," I muttered softly. Remus and Sirius looked affronted, as if I had wanted to lie to them.

"But why didn't you tell us?" Remus pleaded. I gaped at him.

"How do you tell your best friends that you can live forever, and the person responsible for it was the enemy of the wizarding world, who at one point was your best friend? And it doesn't help that my so-called best friend turned on me just so he could have immortality. Oh, and thanks to me, it obviously worked, and he has most likely achieved it!" Remus and Sirius had the decency to look slightly ashamed. The younger red haired guy raised his hand and stood up.

"Well, I have a question. Who in the hell is Tom Riddle?" Albus told him, and the boy flinched and sat down. At the last the room was silent. Albus sipped his tea and held up a hand.

"Now. The question that I'm sure you all are wondering: What can this woman do for us? Well, we all know who the new Defense teacher is this year. Dolores Umbridge is playing spy for the Ministry and will try to turn the students against me. She will succeed with quite a few of them. We also need our own spies. Severus Snape is a Potions master. Ana, you will be the Potions apprentice. You will tell anyone that asks that Severus is renowned for his Potions making skill, and that as a training Potions master you have been sent to observe him in his profession." There was no room for argument.

I sulked for the rest of the meeting, wanting nothing more than to go back to my little cottage in Godrics Hollow and play a game with my bewitched chess set. I couldn't believe that I had been stupid enough to let Albus drag me back into his mess. They spoke of certain missions, and of a secret weapon, something they were using against Voldemort.

"But Albus, Harry is just a boy." My attention was now strictly riveted on the conversation.

"Ah, but there is a very good chance that we could use him to our advantage. Harry is the thing that Voldemort wants now. You see, I believe that because there is a part of Harry that is connected to Lord Voldemort, Harry might have a connection with him. The moments when Harry has felt his scar blazing is when Voldemort is near. Harry can sense him, and this is quite perfect." I stood up angrily.

"All right. I have so many questions that I don't even know where to begin. Obviously, I have been out of the loop for some time now, but I can say one thing. If you care about that poor boy at all, then how can you talk about him as if he's just a part of a puzzle that you feel the compulsive need to solve? He's not a pawn in your game, Albus!" I saw the warning look on everyone's faces. Albus sighed and looked down. His eyes weren't twinkling anymore, always a bad sign. He tried to ignore my outburst and continued.

"I'm afraid that we are running out of time. The last time we met, we decided that the guard would be compromised of: Elphias, Hestia, Kingsley, Tonks, Emmeline, Dedalus, Remus, Alastor. I suppose you will be wanting to join them?" Dumbledore asked me quietly. I was still so outraged that I realized I had forgotten to breath. I managed to sit back down and asked what the guard was.

"We will be rescuing Harry Potter from his aunt and uncle's house. There were a couple of dementors that attacked Harry and his cousin, and the ministry is trying to put him away. They've even got a trial date scheduled for him," Hestia said bitterly. There was more growling from Sirius and Remus, only broken by Sirius literally begging to come. Albus shook his head.

"I am afraid not Sirius. You would be much too easy to recognize, even by Muggles. We cannot take that chance. So Ana, you will be joining?" I nodded my head in agreement. Honestly, I wasn't even entirely there. I was too busy thinking about what Harry looked like. If he still had Lily's eyes. I hoped that they hadn't changed, like babies' eyes usually do as they get older. The meeting was adjourned, and a few of the witches and wizards stood to leave. Among them was Severus Snape, who did not even look back. Albus decided that it would be best not to say anything to me and he also left without a word. Molly called for dinner, and Tonks and I ran to help her.

While in the grimy kitchen, as we were gathering silverware and plates, I moved over to Molly. She smiled at me and patted my shoulder.

"I'm very sorry dear. I know it must have seemed a shock for Albus to talk like that, but he really does have the boy's best interests at heart." I smiled at her, then worked up the courage to ask her my burning question.

"Molly, have you seen Harry? I don't mean this summer. I mean, have you ever met him?" She laughed and flicked her wand at a roast on the opposite side of the kitchen.

"Of course. Him and my youngest son, Ron, have been best friends since first year. Such a darling boy, too. So humble, and grateful for every little thing. It's no wonder either, with those relatives of his," she added sourly. I chuckled a bit, then took a deep breath.

"What colour are his eyes?" I asked, my voice trembling a little. Her face immediately filled with pity and her eyes softened.

"Green." I smiled and she squeezed my shoulder again. We made our way outside, where the table was once again full. The chairs that had been emptied by the few people that hadn't stayed for dinner had been replaced by two red haired twins, one of whom grimaced when he saw me enter, Ginny, another young red- haired boy, and a girl with bushy brown hair and a pretty smile. As I sat down, I was introduced to the two red haired men, Bill, Molly's eldest son, and Arthur, Molly's husband. The twins, I found out, were Fred and George, the younger red haired boy was Ron, and the girl was Hermione, Ron and Harry's best friend.

Dinner was delicious. I spent time catching up with Sirius and Remus. Sirius complained bitterly about having to be cooped up in his old home, and Remus rolled his eyes at every snide remark.

"Well, looks like you haven't changed too much," I said to Sirius, laughing. He flashed me a grin, very much like the one he used to have, making me smile even harder. Remus shook his head.

"Do you still live in Godrics Hollow?" Remus inquired. I nodded.

"Yup. Still in the same cottage. It's actually quite nice still. I don't go out much, but when I do, everyone assumes I'm just a relative and that Ana Tchaikovsky is senile and doesn't like to go out much. Much less work to remain anonymous than I thought it would be. Sirius, someone bought out your flat ages ago. A nice Muggle family. It's still quiet as ever, except for the yearly celebration of…" I let my voice trail off and Sirius and Remus looked down at their hands, kind of pained. We didn't speak for a bit.

"So, a celebration, huh? She would have had a fit. She was always so modest." I smiled at Sirius.

"Yeah, but James would have loved it. People coming from all over just to celebrate him. Would have been a field day for the guy." Sirius laughed and banged his hand down on the table. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hermione and Ron tense up. They weren't looking at us, but they weren't talking. Obviously, they recognized who we were talking about. "But it does get quite noisy. People still shouting at three in the morning. Quite ridiculous. Of course, I join in every once in a while. But I prefer to pay my respects in private, at the graveyard. The celebration is just too impersonal with all of those people." Remus nodded.

"Yeah. I saw you down there about a year or so ago, but you Disapparated before I could get to you."

"I'm sorry. And you seem to be busy, too. You didn't come round for tea last week like you promised." Remus smiled sheepishly, a few gray-blonde strands of hair falling into his face.

"I know. I had completely forgotten. There were so many meetings last week, and I've just been getting more and more exhausted these days." I made a sympathetic face.

"Still no luck with the job then?" He sighed and shook his head. I ate a bit of roast and turned to him, lowering my voice.

"It's so unfair. You're a great and dedicated worker, and a good man. Wizards and their idiotic prejudices. It's not right!" We continued in talk about work and new things going on in our lives, but then I pulled out a few pictures from my pockets. Sirius and Remus gave me a curious look and leaned over to get a better view of the pictures.

"I brought all of the old pictures. I thought you guys might want a few, for old times sake." We went through each of them, and I saw Ron and Hermione lean over to see what they were. I smiled and pushed a picture at them. It was of a waving Harry bundled up in winter clothes, happily chasing bewitched snowballs in the backyard. Hermione laughed when one of the snowballs began to chase Harry and hit him in the back of the head.

"His mother was an absolute terror with the camera! Always following us around with the bloody contraption," I laughed. Remus picked out one of the Marauders minus Peter. They were sitting on the couch drinking butterbeers in Sirius' living room, all toasting to the camera. Sirius picked out three. One with him throwing Lily over his shoulder and spinning her around the room, and another with him and James, standing with their arms around each other and little Harry pulling at James' pants legs. The third was of me and him standing under the mistletoe at a Christmas party. Sirius was kissing me on the cheek and I was playfully shoving him away.

We went through more. There was one of our whole gang plus the kids. Alice was looking incredibly pregnant (it was only a few days before she gave birth) and Frank had one arm around her and his other hand on her stomach. James and lily were kissing for the camera and Sirius was placing a temporary Sticking Charm on their mouths. I was holding Harry.

There were more, but I liked the one with all of us and said that I wanted to keep it, but I would make copies for them if they wanted it. Both men eagerly agreed. Ron and Hermione were fascinated by their friend's baby pictures.

"Blimey. Harry would love this," Ron said in awe. Hermione shook her head earnestly.

"Yes. He has wanted more pictures to add to that photo album Hagrid gave him." I beamed at them.

"Well if that's true, I would be happy to show him. I've got loads upstairs in my trunk. I'm a packrat. Hate throwing things away, especially memories like these." Sirius and Remus were studying the pictures that they'd picked out. Both of them looked like they were about to cry. Dinner finished fairly quickly, and I went upstairs to my room. I taped the picture of all of us to my headboard.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Ana!**

**Thanks to: A Catholic Girl! My first and only reviewer I appreciate all reviews especially yours since I had the burning desire to update after I got your review! Anyways, I hope Ana isn't becoming a Mary Sue. I think I've made her pretty well rounded and if anybody has any questions or complaints feel free to leave me one in a review or pm. Thanks again so much!**

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The night was cool and breezy as we all stood in the darkness of Privet Drive. The crickets were chirping and all of the streetlights had "mysteriously" gone out. It was a quiet, residential area. All of the two story houses with white siding and lush green lawns looked the exact same, as did practically every car in the neighbourhood. Alastor looked around to make sure nobody was there, then took a drink from his flask. He nodded his head once, and led us inside one of the houses, marked number 4.

The instant we got inside, I could tell from the things Lily had told me that this this was most definitely her older sister's house. It was almost surreally tidy, the kitchen scrubbed and polished to perfection. Tonks and I grinned at each other, and she smudged a bit of Floo powder that she had in her pocket on a small part of the shiny white countertop. I stifled a laugh and we both heeded Alastor's warning look. He hobbled up the stairs, all of us following after him. There was a loud crash and we looked back. Tonks had crashed into a stool and knocked it over. She flushed and grinned sheepishly, and Remus righted the stool.

"The kid knows we're here," Alastor muttered. The closer we got to the bedroom door, the harder I squeezed Remus' hand. I had moved beside him for comfort when we got to the top of the steps. He grimaced, but didn't let go. Dedalus started whispering excitedly about getting to meet Harry Potter, and we all tried to shush him while Alastor blasted the door open. Before it got knocked open, I took in the little cat flap on the door. I pointed it out to Remus and his eyes flashed gold. We all made our way into Harry's room, and I struggled to breath when I saw him.

He was small for his age, though still taller than me. Then again, who wasn't taller than me. I also noted angrily that he was thinner than an average boy his age. He looked exactly like James, with messy black hair and wire rimmed glasses. "Ana, let go." I reddened and stopped trying to rip Remus' hand right off of his wrist. Harry had been about to yell and had his wand pointed at us, but relaxed when he took in the faces of Alastor and Remus. Tonks was going on about how clean the Muggles were. I snorted derisively.

"What do you expect? It's Petunia. Right cow if you ask me." This time Harry focused on me. Molly was right. His eyes were green. He gave me a questioning look, but Alastor waved it away.

"He looks just like James," Kingsley said in wonder. I nodded in agreement, as did many of the other witches and wizards in the room.

"Never mind, Harry. Ask questions later. Now, what shape does your Patronus take?"

"Erm, a stag," replied Harry, nervously. Alastor surveyed him closely, his magical eye spinning wildly.

"Okay. Right now we need to get your stuff together and downstairs." Tonks stepped forward.

"I can help with this!" she said happily. Almost everyone in the guard groaned audibly. She waved her wand around and all of Harry things landed messily in his trunk. While she tried to close it, Harry moved over to Remus.

"You all are lucky the Dursleys weren't home," he warned. Tonks momentarily tried to stop forcing the trunk closed.

"Lucky, ha! It was me who lured them out of the way! Set a letter by post telling them they'd been short listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now…or at least they think they are."

Harry grinned appreciatively at her, then turned to Remus with worry clouding his eyes. "Professor Lupin, what's going on? What did the Prophet say about the attacks? What's Fudge going to do?" Goodness, this kid had a load of questions. He had obviously been starved for information. No wonder. According to Sirius, if Albus hadn't stepped in, Fudge probably would've gone so far as to send Harry to Azkaban until his trial date. Remus put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"It's all right, Harry. You're coming with us. We know what Fudge _wants _to do, put you behind bars so you will stop telling people about Voldemort returning, but there has been no mention of dementors in Little Whinging. You know how he was about believing Voldemort has come back. Still doesn't want to believe it. Releasing the story about you being attacked would only make him seem like the bad guy, and Fudge doesn't want that." Harry grabbed at his hair angrily, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Why is he being stupid? Voldemort is back! He's going to kill people!" he yelled. Remus held up a hand, and Harry's protests died away, but the glare on his face didn't.

"Harry. You don't have to convince us. We already know." He sighed and his shoulders slumped. There was a click from in the corner of the room, and we all looked over. Tonks was standing triumphantly on the closed trunk. We all trooped downstairs, the trunk and owl cage following behind us. Once we got down to the kitchen, I settled over by Tonks, willing myself not to look as teary- eyed as I felt. Alastor hobbled over to the table and sat in one of the chairs. Alastor introduced everyone.

"I'm Alastor Moody." Harry grinned and tried not to laugh. Alastor glared at him. "We never actually met, but I should have been your Defense teacher last year. And don't laugh, boy. I could've been an imposter, just like last time." The smirk immediately disappeared from Harry's face. He introduced Elphias Doge, Hestia Jones, Emmeline Vance, Sturgis Podmore, Nymphadora Tonks ("Just call me Tonks, love."), Kingsley Shacklebolt, Dedalus Diggle ("Very pleased to make your acquaintance, Harry Potter, sir!"), Remus, and I. I nodded at Harry and smiled. Remus glanced at me and squeezed my arm for reassurance. The boy's gaze moved from me, to Remus, and then back again.

"You look familiar," he muttered to me. I smiled, delighted that he seemed to remember me.

"Well, you certainly have a good memory. Although, I haven't seen you since you were just baby." At his skeptical look, I grinned widely. "Don't let this fool you," I said, gesturing to my face, "I'm a lot older than I look." Tonks suddenly spoke up from where she was looking in a mirror on the door.

"You know, I don't think violet's really my colour,' she said pensively, tugging at a lock of spiky hair. 'D'you think it makes me look a bit peaky?" Kingsley rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, it does," said Tonks decisively. She screwed up her eyes in a strained expression as though she was struggling to remember something. A second later, her hair had turned bubble-gum pink. I applauded her sarcastically and she gave me an exaggerated bow.

"Honestly. You two together. It's like you're 16 instead of 69," Emmeline said. Tonks and I giggled in response. It was quite true. In a way, Tonks reminded me of Lily.

Harry was gaping at Tonks as she perched herself on the table. "How did you do that?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm a Metamorphmagus," she told him. Making it grow a bit longer. Harry looked confused. "It means I can change my appearance at will," she added, "I was born one. I got top marks in Concealment and Disguise during Auror training without any study at all, it was great."

"You're an Auror?" said Harry, impressed. I laughed.

"Yeah. She almost didn't make it. Took her three tries to pass Stealth and Tracking," I told him. Tonks frowned at me and crossed her arms. Then she laughed, too.

"I'm dead clumsy, did you hear me trip over that stool when we got here? Anyway, Kingsley's an Auror too, though he's a bit higher up than me."

"Can you learn how to be a Metamorphmagus?" Harry asked her, straightening up. I felt sorry for him as I saw the scar on his forehead. Tonks chuckled.

"Bet you wouldn't mind hiding that scar sometimes, eh?"

"No, I wouldn't mind," Harry mumbled, turning away. We made more idle chat for awhile until Alastor rushed us outside. I noticed that Harry looked much more comfortable once he left the house and had his broomstick in his hand. Alastor attached Harry's trunk to his broom, then Disillusioned him. Once Harry was almost completely invisible to the naked eye, Alastor told us our flight layout.

"All right. Stay well above the range of any Muggle that may see you. I'll fly up front with Kinglsey and Emmeline. Dedalus, you, Ana, and Sturgis will fall to the back. Remus and Tonks will flank your left. Doge and Hestia, you'll stay to his right. Harry, do not leave the middle at any time, no matter what. Always make sure there is someone protecting every side at any time. And do not put your wand there boy!" he barked. Harry had been putting his wand in his back pocket. "Better wizards than you have lost a buttock that way!"

Tonks looked at Alastor inquiringly. "Who d'you know that's lost a buttock, Moody?" Alastor ignored her and ordered everyone to mount their brooms. We all waited a few minutes, and then he turned to everyone.

"Now. Do not break ranks. If someone goes down, keep going. Don't look back. Don't slow down. Harry, if we all go out, keep flying east. The rear guard will join you when it looks safe or you're in desperate need. On my signal, fly!" He waited a moment more, then shot off a red spark into the air. A green one answered him. We all lifted ourselves into the air, and our brooms shot off into the night sky. It was cloudy, the perfect night for flying. The air was crisp and chilly, but I barely felt it through my robes. Everyone was silent. I kept my eyes moving, surveying the area the entire time. A call from Moody let us know that we were about to be sighted, and we flew up and over to the left. Another call about a half hour later told us that a town was coming up. We flew right to avoid it.

"Keep climbing. There's some low cloud up ahead that we can get through." I looked incredulously at Dedalus, who was thinking along the same lines as me. We couldn't go through the clouds. We still had another few hours until we got back to Grimmauld Place, and the clouds would drench us all.

"What are you talking about? We'll get soaked, Mad-Eye!" Tonks yelled. He ignored us, and we all grew steadily colder. I was absolutely freezing. My hands were shaking, and my robes didn't seem heavy enough anymore. Finally, Kingsley whispered something to Alastor, and he took us down some. I was still chilled to the bone, and I could only imagine how Harry felt, as he hadn't put on his coat, but it was at least slightly warmer. We continued to fly in silence, each of us scanning the night sky for signs of danger. We had to keep altering our course, to avoid being seen by Muggles, and it took us longer than it would have if we'd just kept flying straight, but we made no complaint. The side guards circled Harry protectively, and I glanced back every now and then to make sure we weren't being followed. We drew the line when Alastor suggested doubling back.

"Just to make sure we aren't being followed." Tonks flew up to the front.

"Are you mad, Mad-Eye? We're all frozen to our brooms!" she screamed.

"Tonks is right, Alastor! Look at Harry! If we don't get there soon he'll get sick! It's taking us longer than it should have to get there!" I shouted from the back. Sturgis also shouted his agreement. Alastor reluctantly gave in, and we started to descend. The glittering lights of London got closer and closer, and Alastor gave a shout to be very careful. Kingsley called out that the landing place was only a mile or two ahead, and we began to dive. Harry followed suit, and we all gathered even closer around him.

We finally reached the neighbourhood. Alastor clicked the Put-Outer he had borrowed from Albus when we all climbed off of our brooms, and all of the little pinpoints of light from the street lamps flew into it. The street was completely dark. We made our way down the street, Harry surveying the grimy street and crumbling houses with distaste. I couldn't blame him. It wasn't the most cheerful place. Alastor grabbed Harry by the arm and roughly pulled him towards him. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, whispered, "Lumos," and told Harry to memorize what was written on it. I already knew it by heart, as did everyone else. I had gotten the same slip after I arrived. Alastor had taken me outside the day after I'd arrived at Grimmauld Place and tested me on it so that I wouldn't say the location out loud next time.

_The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London_.

The familiar building came sliding into view, and we all went inside. The hallway was completely dark, and Alastor lit the gas lamps along the walls with a swish of his wand. Molly appeared the moment we walked in and gave Harry a huge hug. He grimaced, but the relieved expression on the boy's face only deepened when he saw Molly. She informed us that the meeting was about to start, and that Albus had arrived. I felt bad for Harry when he made to follow us.

"No, Harry. The meeting is only for Order members. I'll show you to your room," Molly said, grabbing his shoulders and steering him up the grimy stone staircase to the left. The disappointment showed clearly on his face, and he struggled to get a look when we pushed open the door to the dining room. We filed inside and took our places at the table. Once there, we discussed the trip.

"And did you tell him anything?" Albus asked. We all shook our heads. "Good. Mr. Weasley and Miss. Granger will fill him in on what he needs to know." There was a small cough from near the end of the table. Severus was sitting there looking as greasy and unpleasant as ever. I had always been tolerant of Severus, probably because I hadn't gone to school with Lily and my other friends, but he had been particularly rude when I was down in Spinners End shortly after the death of Lily and James. I had asked him if he was going to the service for them, and he hexed me. Needless to say, I hadn't been very forgiving of incident. Also another reason why I wasn't sure being his 'apprentice' would work out. His black eyes found mine and he smirked.

"I trust I may continue?" he asked quietly. I wrinkled my nose at him and made a motion for him to keep talking. "As I was saying, Lucius has been somewhat reluctant of late to give me the information that is needed. What I do know is that they are planning a Ministry raid of one or more people. There is something in the vaults of the Department of Ministries that they are trying to get. This job will probably be entrusted to Lucius himself, as he is on friendly terms with the Minister and can easily slip in and out of the Ministry without suspicion." I snorted.

"And I suspect there is a bit of gold slipping in and out of his hands?"

"Well, I wonder who would have thought of that?" he sneered. Albus gave Severus a warning look. "Yes, there is money being exchanged," he said. Bill brought with him the blueprints to both Gringotts and each individual department in the Ministry. We discussed the possible routes and passages the Death Eaters could take to get into the Department of Mysteries.

"Even if they somehow managed to get in, they would never be able to get out. The only way they could do that would be if they were to Imperius someone, or get hold of this blueprint," Kingsley said. Arthur's eye twitched and he grimaced.

"Lucius Malfoy is quite capable of doing both." Sirius smirked.

"Yes, my cousin's wonderful husband is very willing to do anything to please the Dark Lord, I'm sure," he said bitterly. Molly came bustling into the room. I hadn't even noticed she had left.

"Dinner is done!" she cried, clapping her hands together. Albus called the meeting to a close and most of the witches and wizards got up. Albus handed me a list. I gave him a puzzled look.

"That is your list of things to get for the new school year," he informed me, his eyes twinkling merrily. I rolled my eyes. Severus didn't look happy, either. "And you will get your own dungeon to stay in while you are at Hogwarts."

"Joy. I get to live in a dungeon for nine months. Bloody brilliant. Do you know the disgusting things that live in a dungeon?" Severus raised a thin black eye eyebrow.

"No. Do tell," he drawled. My face flushed. I honestly hadn't even thought about him when I said that. Sirius was practically choking on his laughter. I sat uncomfortably under Severus' cold stare. Albus' beard twitched with mirth. The uneasy silence was broken by a horrible scream from upstairs. We all groaned and Sirius, still shaking with laughter, ran to go put his mother away.

"This is going to be one uncomfortable year," I muttered. Eventually, they all left and the kids started filing in, along with Sirius, an arm slung around the grinning Harry. The twins were nowhere to be seen until Molly started yelling from the kitchen.

"FRED-GEORGE-STOP THIS AT ONCE! JUST CARRY THEM IN!" Everyone at the table dove out of their chairs as a large pot of stew and a flagon of butterbeers came skidding across the table The stew didn't spill, but the butterbeer fell with a loud crash. A bewitched cutlery knife landed point down on the table. Still clutching my chest, I emerged from under the table. The twins were standing in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear. Until Molly caught up to them.

"I hope Mum murders you for that!" Ginny snapped.

"I second that," I said, raising a hand.

"THAT IS ENOUGH- I HAVE HAD- YOU DON'T NEED TO USE MAGIC FOR EVERY LITTLE THING NOW! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE OF AGE-"

"We were just trying to save some time," Fred said, snatching the knife off of the table and giving me an apologetic smile. Sirius and Harry were laughing hysterically. Mundungus (the smelly pile of robes from the first meeting. Yes, it turned out to actually be human) swore as he righted his chair and angrily plopped back down in it. Ron helped Hermione back up and into her chair, glaring at his brothers.

Arthur shook his head and fixed his glasses. "Fred and George. Honestly, your mother is right. You need to show a sense of responsibility," he lectured. Molly came bustling in, carrying bowls and spoons. The napkins trialed along after her, as did the bread and butter.

"We never had this sort of trouble with your brothers," she snapped, "Percy-" Molly's eyes got teary and her lip started to tremble. Bill looked around alarmed, and took a whiff of the soup.

"Wow, Mum, this smells great!" he said, grabbing for a bowl. She set them down hesitantly on the table, and everyone grabbed one. It did taste wonderful, and we all told her so. She waved away our praise, but at least didn't look like she was about to cry anymore. She turned to Sirius and began asking him about housecleaning, a subject which was of great torment to Sirius considering he hated the house and thought it would be better off infested by doxies. Tonks was changing her nose for Ginny and Hermione, who had taken to calling out their favorites.

"Do the pig snout, Tonks," Ginny cried. Tonks screwed up her eyes and her nose quickly transformed into that of a pig's. I was talking with Remus.

"How am I going to work with that man? He loathes me," I complained, unsuccessfully stabbing at the broth. Remus laughed and took a bite of bread.

"He loathes Sirius and I more than he loathes you, " Remus assured me. Sirius laughed and nodded. "That's the truth, mate," he said. I looked at Harry.

"So I suppose you have the joy of being his student," to which Harry nodded darkly. "Bad luck, kid. Hated James more than any of us. Although Sirius comes fairly close." Harry gave me a questioning look.

"You knew my dad, too?" I nodded.

"And your mum. Lovely people. Lily stayed with me for a few weeks before she and your father moved into their new house." Sirius tried to say something, but was drowned out by yelling at the end of the table. Mundungus was banging his hand on the table and wiping his eyes with the other.

"… and then," choked Mundungus, tears running down his face, "and then, if you'll believe it, 'e says to me, 'e says, 'Ere, Dung, where didja get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Bludger's gone and nicked all mine!' And I says, 'Nicked all your toads, Will, what next? So you'll be wanting some more, then?'" Fred and George were laughing so hard that they could barely breath, and Mundungus was only barely managing to get the words out. Molly stood up and glared, her face getting very red.

"I don't think my children need to hear anymore about your business dealing, Mundungus Fletcher," she said. George snorted loudly and turned his head away so his mother wouldn't see him laughing. Fred quickly did the same thing when Mundungus said, "Beggin' your pardon, Molly. But you see, I wasn' really doin' nuthin' wrong-"

"I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons," she said coldly. Harry looked to his godfather in confusion.

"Molly doesn't approve of Mundungus," Sirius said in a lowered voice.

"Goodness, and I wonder why," I muttered. Sirius ignored me and Remus chuckled slightly. Like molly, I didn't approve of Mundungus. He was useful enough with the criminal underground, and he was funny, I had to admit that. But I didn't consider him trustworthy.

"Well, why's he in the Order then?" asked Harry.

"He's dead useful." Sirius muttered. 'Knows all the crooks… well, he would, seeing as he's one himself. But he's also very loyal to Dumbledore, who helped him out of a tight spot once. It pays to have someone like Dung around, he hears things we don't. But Molly thinks inviting him to stay for dinner is going too far. She hasn't forgiven him for slipping off duty when he was supposed to be tailing you." Harry nodded with understanding, but the corners of his mouth tightened slightly. Obviously, Harry hadn't quite forgiven him for it either.

Conversation passed nicely throughout dinner and into dessert. Hermione and Ginny were both sitting on the floor playing with Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. Molly and Arthur were asking Bill about how things with Gringotts and his latest love interest, Fleur, were going. Remus was politely making conversation with Tonks about the lack of chases she was getting from the ministry. Apparently, since Fudge didn't believe Voldemort was back, he didn't see any reason for going on Death Eater raids. Of course, all of the important Death Eaters worth catching all had connection with Fudge himself. Finally, everyone seemed so tired out and full that conversation stopped altogether, everyone leaning back in their chairs contentedly.

"Well, I suppose it's time for bed," Molly said to the kids, yawning loudly. Sirius leaned forward in his chair and cleared his throat. Molly already seemed to know what was coming, and she frowned at him, tensing up for an argument. "Now wait a minute Molly. I think Harry might have some questions about what's been going on. Questions about Voldemort." Harry stood up, looking excited.

"I did, I asked Hermione and Ron, and they said that they weren't allowed in the Order, that they were too young-"

"And they were quite right!" Molly nearly shouted, her hands clenched into fists. Sirius surveyed her quietly.

"You don't have to be in the Order to ask questions," Sirius said.

"Wait a minute!" George cried.

"We've been trying to get you to answer our questions for weeks!"

"You're too young, your not in the Order," Fred said in a perfect imitation of his mother, "Harry's not even of age!" Sirius calmly gestured for them to quiet down.

"I can't help that. It's your parents' decision whether you are allowed access to certain information or not. Harry, on the other hand-"

"It's not for you to decide what is best for Harry or not!" Molly yelled, her face fading from a harsh red to nearly white.

"Molly, Harry is Sirius' godson. Perhaps-" I began quietly, but was cut off by her. She pointed accusingly at me, her face filled with shock that I was taking Sirius' side.

"And it isn't your place either. From what I remember, neither of you have been here for him until two years ago, and only a month for you, Ana." I felt a pang in my chest and my mouth dropped open. I couldn't believe that she would be that harsh. The look on Sirius' face conveyed the same thing. I could feel the rage bubbling inside of me, trying to find the right words.

"Maybe you'll remember, too, that Sirius could not help that he was sent to Azkaban and was slowly going insane from the dementors. I have been in hiding at the request of Albus Dumbledore. When exactly could either of us be here for him? Because trust me, if I had the choice, I certainly would have been here for the boy who is practically my nephew." I whispered. Her face softened a little, and she looked more ashamed than anything when I said those words. I sat down silently, my eyes on my empty plate. Sirius had not said a word.

"I don't plan on telling him more than he needs to know, Molly. But he has a right to know. He's the one that saw Voldemort come back!" There was a shudder around the room at the name except from Harry, Remus, Sirius, and myself. Molly's stubborn look was starting to fade as she realized that she wouldn't win this argument.

"But he's only fifteen! He isn't a member of the Order-"

"I know that Molly, but-"

"Sirius, he isn't James!" The moment Molly said that the room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. I think for a moment Sirius forgot to breath. He looked half scared, and half angry. The muscles in his face twitched and the look in his eyes was so hollow that I almost shook him to make it go away.

"I know, Molly," Sirius said, fixing that dead look on her. She faltered, but still wasn't going to give up. She straightened herself, ready for another round of arguing.

"Sometimes I don't think you do. The way you talk about him, it's as if you've got your best friend back." I felt Remus freeze up beside me and I bit my tongue. It was between Molly and Sirius now. Harry stood up quickly, furious and quick to defend his godfather.

"And what's wrong with that?" he demanded. Molly didn't even look at him. Her eyes were locked with Sirius'.

"What's wrong with that, Harry, is that no matter how much you look like your father, you aren't! And adults responsible for you should not forget that," she cried angrily. Sirius lost it. He stood up and banged his fists on the table. Even I was offended by Molly's remark, and I could only imagine how Sirius was feeling as it was directed at him.

"Meaning what?" he demanded. "That I'm an irresponsible godfather?"

"Meaning that you've been known to act rashly, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home!" Molly yelled back at him. All of the kids were matching the screaming match with their mouths hanging open. Sirius' face turned bright red.

"You'll do well to leave Dumbledore's instructions out of this," he whispered harshly. His tone was icy and almost threatening, and I looked to Arthur for help to control his wife. He sighed and touched Molly on her elbow. She looked down happily at him, relieved for backup. But her face fell when she saw him.

"Arthur!" she pleaded, "Help me." He took off his glasses and carefully cleaned them on his shirt. Her face was incredulous when he looked at her determinedly.

"Molly, the position has changed. I think Dumbledore accepts that Harry will have to be filled in to a certain extent now that he is staying here at Headquarters."

"But…h-he can't just-"

"Personally," began Remus. Everyone looked at him instantly. Remus had always been the voice of reason in any situation. Molly gave up. She knew that there was nothing she could do now. "Personally, I think Harry deserves to know certain, not all, but certain facts from us, rather than from less reliable mouths." All of the kids exchanged secretive looks at the last three words. Apparently, some of the information from meetings had escaped Molly's enchantments. Harry looked relieved now that Remus had stepped in.

Molly looked around, making one last desperate attempt to find someone that was on her side. Finding none, she puffed out her chest indignantly. "Fine. I see how it is. I know that I'm outnumbered. I just want to say this: Speaking as someone who has Harry's best interests at heart…"

"he isn't your son, Molly," Sirius said quietly. Her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes glazed over with unshed tears.

"He's as good as," he retorted. "Besides, who else does he have?" Sirius shot her a very nasty look.

"Who else does he have? He's got the people that James and Lily would have wanted looking after him! He's got Remus, he's got Ana, but most of all he has me! I'm his godfather and, if certain circumstances hadn't gotten in the way, his legal guardian," he shot at her hotly. I recoiled slightly, not liking where this conversation was going and for once not wanting any part of it.

Molly pursed her lips and an ugly look settled itself on her usually pleasant features. "Yes, well, that is true. But you see, it has been hard for you to look after him while you've been doing your time in Azkaban," she hissed. If Remus had not spoken up at the exact second Sirius stood up, his hand instantly twitching near his pocket where I realized his wand was hidden, I have no idea what would have happened.

"Molly," Remus barked, his eyes darkening to that strange amber color, "do not make the mistake for thinking that you are the only one that cares for Harry. Sirius, sit down." Sirius sat, and Molly instantly shut up. "Now, I think Harry is old enough to decide for himself."

Harry didn't even give Remus time to finish the sentence before responding, "I want to know what's going on." Molly was defeated. This time she didn't try to argue.

"Fine. But the rest of you, out." There was an instant uproar. Fred and George bellowed that they were of age, and Arthur agreed that they should stay. "All right. Fred and George-you can stay. But the rest of you leave."

"But why should we leave?" Ron asked angrily. "Harry will just tell us everything anyway, won't you Harry?" Harry grinned at his best friends and nodded, pointedly ignoring Molly's crestfallen face. She agreed to let Ron and Hermione stay. In the end, Ginny marched up the stairs, screaming about how unfair it was that she was the only one not allowed to hear. Molly enchanted the door so that Ginny wouldn't be able to sneak back down and eavesdrop, and everyone got resettled. Molly just crossed her arms and glared angrily at the table.

"All right, Harry. So what do you want to know?" Sirius asked. Harry could barely contain his flow of questions.

"What's Voldemort been doing? There hasn't been news of any strange deaths lately, and I've been watching the Muggle news and the Prophet."

"That's because there hasn't been any strange deaths as far as we know, and we know quite a lot," said Sirius.

"At least, more than he thinks we do," added Bill.

"But why's he stopped killing people?" Harry asked. Sirius leaned forward and grinned.

"He doesn't want to draw attention to himself, you see. Nobody except for his Death Eaters was supposed to know he had returned, but you messed things up for him." Harry looked truly perplexed.

"But how?" he asked. Sirius sighed.

"Because you survived!" Remus said. "The very first thing you did when you got back was tell Dumbledore, and Dumbledore is the only person Voldemort was ever afraid of." He cast a sidelong glance at me when he said this last part, as did all the other adults.

I shrugged indifferently. "True enough. More afraid of Albus' potential than anything else, but basically correct." I still wasn't used to plotting the eventual downfall and death of Tom, and even more uncomfortable with the fact that every day he became less Tom and more Voldemort to me, so I tried to stay out of the conversation.

"The Dumbledore did when he heard that Voldemort was back was recall the Order of the Phoenix, and we've been trying to keep tabs on his plans," Arthur explained.

"But how do we know what his plans are?" inquired Hermione.

"We've got a pretty good idea," Remus said.

"He's trying to build up his army again. Giants, dementors, Death Eaters, all sorts of Dark witches, wizards, and magical creatures that he had in the old days. He isn't stupid enough o take on the entire Ministry of Magic with only a few Death Eaters," Sirius finished.

"But how are you going to try and stop him from building up his army?" asked Harry.

"It hasn't been easy. We just have to try and warn people that You-Know-Who is back," replied Tonks, who was leaning forward in her chair with her chin cupped in her hands.

Harry gripped his hair in both hands, looking very frustrated. "But why isn't Fudge trying to help? Why is he still refusing to believe that Voldemort is back? Dumbledore-"

"But," Tonks began, "That is the problem right there. You see, Fudge is frightened of Dumbledore."

"Why?" Ron asked. I could see why he would be somewhat incredulous. Albus really didn't look all that intimidating, and the only wizard he would ever use his strongest powers on was Tom.

I smiled sadly. "Because Cornelius knows that Albus is more powerful than he could ever hope to be. He thinks that this is a ploy to take over the Ministry."

"But how could he ever think that?" cried Harry in outrage.

"Because facing that Voldemort is back would mean facing a danger that the wizarding community hasn't had to face in fourteen years. He can't handle it. He thinks if he blames everything on you and Dumbledore then nothing will happen," Sirius said.

"You see, Fudge is using the press to his advantage. He's pressuring them not to report on what he calls 'Dumbledore's rumour-mongering'. So since the Daily Prophet isn't saying anything, and the Ministry refuses to acknowledge Voldemort's return, it is very hard to convince people that he's back. This also makes them susceptible to being Imperiused by Death Eaters," Remus explained.

"But you've been trying to convince people he's back, haven't you?" Harry asked, looking at me, Remus, Sirius, Bill, Arthur, Tonks, and Molly in turn. Sirius snorted.

"Seeing as there's a ten thousand galleon price on my head, I should hardly be expected to get out there and start handing out leaflets." I shrugged sadly.

"I've been in hiding for fourteen years. Few people know where I've been, save Remus and Albus and the occasional ministry wizard or witch. And I doubt that people will be inviting a werewolf to dine with them anytime soon," I said, throwing a look to Remus at that last part. He didn't say anything, but sighed heavily.

"And you can bet that Tonks and I would lose our jobs at the Ministry in a second if we were to go around spreading the word. The Order needs spies in the Ministry. Someone has to tell us what the Death Eaters are up to, because you know Fudge isn't likely to say," Arthur added bitterly.

Harry stared at us with a look of desperation. "So you haven't been doing anything?" he asked. Sirius frowned.

"Who says we haven't been doing anything? We've managed to convince a few people. Tonks for one, and Kingsley's been a real help keeping the Ministry off my tail. But after what happened to Dumbledore, we might have to lay low for a bit." I raised an eyebrow slightly. "Well, lower than we've been keeping."

All of the kids leaned forward eagerly for news of their headmaster. Remus stroked his chin slightly and looked at me. "The Ministry is trying to discredit him," he said.

"They've taken away his title as Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot," I explained. All of the kids gave out shouts of outrage that soon quickly died down, after a few sparks from the wands of Fred and George. Molly once again reprimanded them for using unneeded magic.

"That's not all," said Remus, "They've voted him out of the Chairmanship of International Confederation of Wizards. They're saying that it's because he's old and senile, but supporters of Dumbledore know that it's because of the speech he made about Voldemort's return." Harry wore a look of pure outrage. I took a wild guess that Albus was right up there on Harry's role model list.

Bill grinned. "But he says he doesn't care what the Ministry does to him, as long as they keep him on the Chocolate Frog cards." We all laughed except for Molly and Arthur. Arthur cleaned off his glasses again and gave his son a reprimanding look.

"It's not a laughing matter," he warned, "If the Ministry can convince people that Albus is off his rocker, they could get him out of the way. Without Dumbledore, Voldemort can rise to full power once again." He let that sink in with all of us.

Harry looked around esperatly. His friends exchanged worried looks. "But word will get out that Voldemort's recruiting?" I snorted.

"Unlikely. He doesn't just march right on up to you and say 'Hey you, join me!'" I said. "He got ways, curses, spells, jinxes, that help gather his followers without anyone being suspicious. We aren't worried about them, though, right now. He's got other plans." All of the kids looked curious.

"Wat kinds of plans?" asked Hermione. Sirius and Lupin exchanged a dark look.

"Ones that he can only carry out by stealth," said Sirius, giving them a meaningful look. Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked at each other, trying to figure out what eh meant. Molly stood up. Her face had gone pale again. "Bed!" she hissed, pinting out the kitchen, but none of the kids paid ay attention.

"Like a weapon?" Harry asked. Sirius' tone was neutral, but his eyes pleaded with Harry to understand. The poor boy was trying to quickly decipher what Sirius was trying to get him to undertsnad before Molly could get him away.

"Yes."

"Something worse than before?"

"I SAID-"

Sirius spread his hands in front of him. His eyes almost watered for a moment. "Much worse," he whispered.

"I SAID TO GO TO BED! NOW! I WON'T HAVE ANYMORE ARGUING!" Everybodys' heads snapped around to look at Molly. Her brown eyes gleamed dangerously. Her jaw was set firmly, and I could feel the anger rolling off of her in waves. It was decided that it would be in everybody's best interests if we obeyed Moly, and, after sedning us all a venomous glare over her shoulder, escorted the kids to make sure they got into bed. I ahd a feeling the peace wouldn't last for long and wanted to get away before she came back. I was actually proved wrong. She came back and in an icy tone told us that she was retiring for the night. It was oddly quiet after that. Arhtur went up to try making peace with Molly, and Mundungus left, grumbling all the while about "that bloody woman." The rest os us chatted a bit more until Bill yawned and ruffled his curly red hair.

"Well, I got to get up early tomorrow. I'll see you all tomorrow, then," he said, grinning good-naturedly and exiting. We heard him all walking up the flight of steps to the bedrooms. After that, it was only Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and I. We talked some more. I conjured a bit of ice cream for us all, and after that Sirius and Remus went to their respective rooms. Tonks and I smiled at each other.

"So," she began nervously, stirring her spoon around and making the ice cream melt into a soupy mix, "Have you been friends with them for a long time?" The tone of her voice caught me off guard and I peered suspiciously at her through a curtain of tanglyed black curls. Her hair and eyes went black as she spoke, and her skin got paler. She seemed sad about something, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Yes. I was actually friends with Lily first when I visited Hogwarts. And then I met the infamous Marauders, and Sirius and I wrote each other. Lily was furious and couldn't understand why I would talk to him, but eventually he and James became more mature and she grew to love him as much as James did," I said with a smile.

"And you and Remus?" she asked timidly.

"What about us?" A blush colored Tonks' cheeks and she looked down into her ice cream soup. I realized what she was asking. I almost choked on my ice cream. "Tonks, do you honestly think that Remus and I are together? Look we're just friends. For goodness sake, he's thirty years younger than I am!" I laughed. She blushed even harder and laughed along with me.

"Sorry," she muttered awkwardly. I grinned at her.

"No need," I told her. And then I gave her a very serious look. "But Tonks, dear, even so. I don't think that going after Remus would be very wise. Given his situation…"

Tonks' eyes lit up and she looked at me angrily. Her hair went to red so fast I thought her head had burst into flames. "I know he's a werewolf, and I don't care. I love him just the way he is!" I stared at her, letting what she had just said sink in. And then she clapped a hand over her mouth. "Well, it's just, I mean…okay I'm in love with him! I'm hopelessly in love and I don't know what to do about it." she slumped in her chair miserably and I pondered what could be done to remedy the situation. I cleared my throat.

"Well," I started slowly, "About the whole werewolf issue. It's not that I'm worried about him hurting you physically during his transformations or anything. He's too cautious to be anywhere near you when it happens. But it's the fact that right now, I don't think Remus likes himself enough to even consider having those feelings for anyone else. And then there is the fact that Remus would worry about any child resulting from a union between you and him." She looked even more miserable and tapped the bowl with her wand. It instantly disappeared. I did the same to my own, and we both headed upstairs. Her room was right across from my own, and down the hall from Fred and George's room. Needless to say, I did not get a fair amount of sleep that summer.

Tonks, and I departed deep in thought, and we bid each other goodnight before entering our respective rooms. I shivered and decided that I would wear a comfortable robe overtop of the night dress. The cracks in the crumbling stone walls actually made the room colder instead of letting in the air of the warm summer night. Also in the room was an old wrought iron vanity, an ornamental wooden dresser, and a few shelves to hold other personal items. It was completed by a rug of what looked like Unicorn hide and a surprisingly comfortable queen sized bed. I had exchanged the moldy sheets and lumpy pillows for my own comfortable ones and fluffy down comforter.

After I changed I decided that I was too tired to take a bath, so I tapped my wand on my head and muttered an incantation. I instantly felt quite refreshed, and ran a hand through my now silky hair. The charm was quite a useful one if you were in a hurry. It was like taking a bath without the water and soaking for about a half hour, but you felt and looked as good as new. I climbed into bed and flicked my wand at the candle on my bedside stand. The flame was extinguished. I drifted off top sleep within a few moments, but I could have sworn that in those last few seconds before I closed my eyes, I saw my door open and close on it's own. I struggled to stay awake, to force myself back into consciousness, but I was physically and mentally exhausted, and I eventually gave in to the darkness that so invitingly overwhelmed me.

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**Wow. Thirteen pages on Microsoft Word. You all better feel special I finished this. I should actually be doing my lit paper, but that was boring. So I will do it tomorrow before school. Eh, it's only got to be a rough draft and I've written longer papers with a shorter time restraint before. Whatever. Hope you liked the chapter. You know what you got to do now!**


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